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UUidows  &  Orphan: 
Ondowments 


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ISIDOR     BUSH 


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<Ase.  //  /^ 


"Widows  and  Orphans 

^  Endowments, 

A      STUDY. 

I  DEDICATED  TO  THE   MEMBERS   OF   T  HE 

/.     O.     B.     B. 

BY  THEIR   BROTHER 

ISIDOR      BUSH. 


NEW  YORK : 

PHIL.  CO  WEN,  PRINTER, 
Office  of  The  American  Hebrew  498-500  Third  Avenue. 

,^'8'!S-,     ,    ,,      ,  .     .... 


Reprinted  from  TwL  Amfrican  Hebrew. 


k. 


ODR  WIDOW  AND  ORPHAN  ENDOWMENTS. 


Part  /. — A  Study  of  Its  Early  History. 


To  provide  for  the  widow  and  orphan  is  one 
of  the  principal  tenets  of  our  Order.  From  the 
first  constitution  of  New  York  Lodge,  No.  i,  es- 
tablished in  1843,  to  the  latest  version  of  our 
Organic  Law,  now  in  force,  the  duty  of  "  pro 
viding  for,  protecting  and  assisting  the  widow  and 
orphan  on  the  broadest  principles  of  humanity," 
was  ever  inculated,  and  has  been  faithfully  ob- 
served by  its  members.^ 

At  first,  each  lodge  had  its  own  small  Widow 
and  Orphan  fund,  from  which  a  quarterly  stipend 
was  to  be  paid;  but  this  proved  insufficient,  un- 
satisfactory, and  at  the  same  time  burdensome, 
aye,  ruinous  to  our  old  lodges.^ 

1 .  The  Preamble  to  that  first  Constitution  contained  the 
words  ;  **  die  Wittwen  und  Waisen  ihrer  verstorbenen 
Briider  zu  unterstuetzen  und  denselben  nach  Kraften  ihren 
Rath  und  Schutz  angedeihen  zu  lassen." 

2.  Proceedings  of  D.    G.    L.    No.  i,  1866- 1867,  pages 


If  our  younger  members,  and  our  older  ones 
who  have  forgotten  many  things — if  they,  who 
"yearn  for  the  days  of  yore,  when  our  Order 
was  sought  for  its  noble  aims  and  objects  only,** 
— "when  the  beneficence  to  the  needy  widow 
and  orphan  directly  bestowed  by  the  Lodge, 
by  means  of  her  widow  and  orphan  fund,  or 
otherwise  was  far   in  excess  to  the  advantages 


138-144,  contain  a  very  able  and  interesting  Committee's 
report,  from  which  we  extract  the  following : 

"  This  brings  us  to  contemplate  the  present  mode  of 
supporting  the  widows  and  orphans  of  deceased  brethren. 
In  the  best  days  of  any  lodge,  the  highest  rate  of  annual 
benefit  to  a  widow  is  $50,  and  to  an  orphan  it  is  $25  per 
annum.  This  benefit  is  so  small  that  at  the  present  prices 
of  rent,  provisions  and  clothing,  it  is  even  too  little  to 
starve  the  widow  and  her  children.  Yet  even  this  small 
pittance  is  not  in  the  power  of  many  of  the  Sections  to  give 
at  all  times,  and  some  of  our  oldest  Sections  have  been 
compelled,  by  reason  of  increased  mortality  amongst  their 
members,  to  reduce  the  rate  of  these  benefits.  What  has 
happened  in  one  Section  is  precisely  what  inevitably  must 
happen  in  all  the  other  Sections  laboring  under  the  same 
conditions.     Increased  mortality  will  in  rotation   fall  upon 

all  the  Sections The  truth  is,  our  widows'  and  orphans' 

funds  have  too  small  income  for  the  extensive  but  insuffi- 
cient benefits  they  give  " 

The  report  then  goes  on  to  show  by  some  very  plain 
figuring  that:  **//  is,  then^  mathematically  certain  that  in  this 
matter  of  Benefit  all  Sections  will  finally  fail,  and  the 
sacred  promises  made  to  Brothers  will  have  to  remain  unful- 
filled by  the  force  of  circumstances ^ 


5 

derived  from  the  $i,ooo  Endowment  benefit" — if 
our  brethren,  who  thus  speak  and  beheve,  would 
refer  to  the  printed  proceedings  of  our  various 
Grand  Lodges  in  those  halcyon  days, — they 
would  find  that  then  also  the  question  of  benefit 
to  our  widows  and  orphans  was  a  matter  of  in- 
terest, of  anxiety  and  of  dissatisfaction.3 

In  October,  1868,  after  long  debates  on  various 
plans  proposed  by  its  several  committees,  D,  G. 
L.  No.  I  agreed  on  a  substitute  offered  by  Bro. 
Julius  Bien,  amending  the  constitution,  and  re- 

3.  On  January  30th,  1868,  D.  G.  L.  No.  i  adopted  the 
following  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  It  is  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  the  Order  and 
principal  duties  incumbent  on  its  members  to  provide  for 
the  widows  and  orphans  ;  and 

Whereas.  The  condition  of  the  younger  lodges,  or  more 
properly  of  their  Widows'  and  Orphans'  fund,  is  such  as  to 
incapacitate  them  from  extend^'ng  any  aid  :  and 

Whereas,  The  call  upon  the  old  lodg:es  is  in  many  cases 
at  present  so  extensive  (and  may  even  become  more  so)  as 
not  to  allow  them  to  fulfill  these  obligations  towards  the 
families  of  each  of  them  as  are  and  may  become  deceased ; 
therefore 

Resolved,  i.  That  an  Association  be  established  under 
the  supervision  of  the  M.  W.  G.  Officers  of  the  District, 
to  be  known  as  the  B.  B.  Relief  Association.  2.  That  all 
brothers  shall  be  entitled  to  membership  in  this  Association 
by  paying  $2  initiation  fee  and  |i  each  on  the  death  of  any 
member  of  the  Association,  etc.  3.  That  a  Committee  be 
appointed  to  draw  proper  laws  and  rules  for  regulating  and 
furthering  the  objects  of  said  Association. 


quiring  every  brother  of  the  Order  in  this  District 
to  pay  the  sum  of  25  cts.  at  the  death  of  a  member 
in  good  standing — to  be  paid  over  to  the  widow 
or  designated  representatives  of  the  deceased 
brother.4  This  was  the  first  District  Endowment 
Law,  it  was  finally  adopted  at  the  general  annual 
session  of  D.  G.  L.  No.  i,  Jan.  24th,  1869^  with 
only  two  dissenting  votes.4 

4.  Bro.  Julius  Bien  offered  as  a  substitute  the  following 
(the  proceedings  were  then  held  in  German.): 

**  Die  Mangelhaftigkeit  des  gegenwartigen  Unterstut- 
zungsplanes  fur  Hinterlassene  verstorbener  Briider  der 
Logen  dieses  Districts  neben  der  Unzulanglichkeit  der  ge 
botenen  Hilfe,  hat  seit  geraumer  Zeit  die  Aufmerksamkeit 
denkender  Briider  in  Anspruch  genomraen  und  sind  in 
Folge  dessen  verschiedene  Entwtirfe  zur  kraeftigern  und 
sicheren  Unterstutzung  der  Witwen  and  Waisen  dieser 
Grossloge  unterbreitet  und  von  derselben  in  Berathung 
gezogen  worden.  In  der  letzt  abgehaltenen  Special  Ver- 
sa tnmlung  hat  die  Grossloge,  als  die  geeigneteste  Erledi- 
gung  dieser  wichtigen  Frage  beschlossen,  §  5,  Art.  i.  • 
dritte  Aotheilung  der  Gesetze  dieses  Districts  auf  folgender 
Weise  zu  amendiren." 

Nach  den  Worter,  **den  Betrag  der  regelmassigen  Beitrage 
festsetzen,'*  werde  hinzugefiigt :  "  Doch  soil  jeder  Bruder 
des  Ordens  in  diesem  Districte  beim  AWeben  eines  voll- 
berechtigten  Mitghedes  einer  Loge  dieses  Districts,  die 
^umme  von  25  cents  bezahlen." 

"  Der  Secretar  der  Loge,  in  der  ein  voUberechtigtes 
Mitglied  gestorben,  soil  sogleich  alle  Logen  dieses  Districts 
von  dem  Sterbfalle  in  Kenntniss  setzen  und  jede  Loge 
dieses  Districts  soil  die  Summe  von  25  cents  fiir  jedes  ihrer 
Mitglieder  an  die  betreffende  Loge  innerhalb  30  Tage  aus 
zahlen  und  seiche  25  cents  als  regelmassigen  Beitrag  von 


f 

Warning  voices,  however,  were  not  altogether 
missing.  On'  that  day  already,  many  represen- 
tatives expressed  the  fear  that  in  time  the  mor- 
tality would  become  much  larger;  and  they  tried 
to  prove  this  by  figures  and  arguments;  but  Bro, 
Friedlein's  statistical    table,    showing  that  from 


jcdem  ihrer  Mitglieder  bei  nachster  Einzahlung  erheben 
Die  Gesammtsumme  aller  solchen  Beitrage  soil  von  den 
Trustees  der  betreffenden  Loge  der  Wittwe  oder  den  gesetz- 
lichen  Erben  (amended  :  or  designated  representatives)  des 
verstorbenen  Bruders  sofort  ausgezahlt  werden." 

Die  Schlussgiltige  Abstimmung  iiber  diesen  Vorschlag 
findet  in  der  General  Versammlung  der  Grossloge  im 
naechsten  Monate  statt  und  ist  derselbe  ihrer  ernsten  und 
reiflichen  Ueberlegung  empfohlen,  damit  ihre  Represent- 
anten  zur  Zeit  in  ihrem  und  ihres  Districts  bestem  Interesse 
ihr  Votum  abgeben. 

Ihrer  Aufmerksamkeit  kann  die  einfache  Weise,  in  der 

hier  ein  grosser  Zweck  erreicht  wird   nicht  entgehen 

Bei  der  jetzigen  Mitgliederzahl  des  Districtes  wiirde  unter 
solchen  Umstanden  eine  Wittwe  ungefahr  neun  hundert 
dollars  erhalten,eineSumme,  die  in  den  meisten  Verhaltnis- 
sen  ausreichend  sein  diirfte,  ihrgeniigende  Mittelzur  Erwer- 
bung  eines  Lebensunterhaltes  in  die  Hande  zu  geben. 
SoUte,  wie  voraussicbtlich,  die  Anzahl  der  Mitglieder  sich 
so  vermehren,  dass  der  erzielte  Betrag  die  Summe  von 
Tausend  Dollars  ubersteigt,  so  konnte  der  Beitrag  ent' 
sprechend  verringert«werden. 

Es  ist  selbstverstandlich  dass  dann  auch  femere  Beitrage 
fiir  einen  Wittwen  und  Waisen-fond  nicht  erforderlich  sind, 
und  sie  werden  bei  genauer  Priifung  finden  das  durch  die 
Annahme  dieses  Planes  den  Briidern  keine  grossen  Lasten 
auferlegt  werden,  vielmehr  mit  denselben  Mitteln, — die 
unter  dem  alten  System,    manche   Logen  bis  an  den  Rand 


8 

185  i-i 868  the  number  of  our  deaths  never  reach- 
ed even  one  per  cent,  seemed  to  refute  them 
completely.  They  overlooked  the  fact  that  for 
every  member  who  died  more  than  ten  new 
younger  members  joined  at  that  time;  or,  if  they 
noticed  it,  did  not  understand  that  such  an  in- 
crease of  membership  retards  the  advance  in 
average  age\  they  were  even  led  to  believe  that 
the  advance  in  age,  and  consequent  increase  in 
mortality,  could  be  forever  prevented  by  the  ad- 
dition of  new  members! 

In  vain  did  Ararat  Lodge,  No.  13,  in  an  earn- 
est and  able  appeal  protest  against  the  new  law; 
in  vain,  soon  thereafter,  did  two  lodges  appeal 
against  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  3,  and  one 
against  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  4,  which  adop- 
ted similar  endowment  laws. 


des  finanziellen  Ruins  gebracht  und  alle  gefcehrdet  haben^ 
ohne  wesentliche  Unterstutzung  zu  bieten  — einer  deredels- 
ten  Zwecke  des  Ordens  Sorge  zu  tra^en  fur  die  Hinterblie- 
benen  verstorbener  Briider,  auf  sichere  und  nachhaltige 
Weise  erzielt  wird." 

In  December,  1868,  a  circular  was  addressed  to  all  the 
lodges  in  District  No.  i,  calling  their  attention  to  the  im- 
perfect system  then  in  existence  of  aiding  the  families  of 
deceased  brethren,  its  total  insufficiency  to  supply  the 
needs  of  widows  and  orphans,  its  dangers  to  the  financial 
position  of  the  lodges,  and  also  to  the  proposed  amendment 
of  the  laws  as  a  remedy. 


The  Court  of  Appeals  decided  their  enactment 
to  be  constitutional  and  valid. s  In  vain  did  a 
few  brethren,  better  informed  on  the  subject, 
endeavor  to  show  the  defects  and  instability  of 
the  system, — the  demand  for  its  adoption  be* 
came  irrepressibe  in  all  our  districts.  The  failure 
of  the  lodge's  widow  and  orphan  fund,  the  insuffi-? 
ciency  of  the  support  thereby  given  to  the  fa^ 
milies  of  deceased  brethren  (out  of  every  five 
deaths  there  were  always  two,  sometimes  three, 
cases  in  which  the  sister  lodges  had  to  be  ap- 
pealed to  for  assistdUce),  and  the  great  popularity 
and  seeming  success  obtained  by  many  new  so- 
called  Co-operative  or  Assesment  Insurance  Asso- 
ciations, just  then  formed  all  over  the  country 
and  adopted  by  some  fraternal  societies — all  these 
circumstances  combined — have  led  to  the  early 
adoption  of  endowment  fund  laws  in  almost 
every  District  of  our  Order.  The  only  exception 
was  District  No.  2,  where  a  voluntary  B.  B.  En- 
dowment Association  had  been  organized  as  early 
as  Nov.  1867.  And  in  this  case  also  the  lodges 
outside  of  Cincinnati,  especially  those  in  the 
South,   insisted    on   the  adoption  of  a  District 

5.  Appeals  III.  and  IV.  Report  -1868-1870.  Pages 
7-8,  and  Appeal  xiii.,  Report  1873,  p.  132. 


lO 

Endowment  Law;^  so  much  so,  that  the  G.  N. 
A.'s  (President's)  Message  to  the  Grand  Lodge 
at  the  opening  of  its  session,  on  Jan.  21st,  1882, 
contained  the  following  words:  "In  many,  and 
especially  in  our  Southern  lodges,  the  desire  for 

6.  At  the  1 8th  annual  meeting  of  D.  G.  L.  No.  2,  held 
at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  Jan.,  1870,  Emanuel  Lodge,  No. 
103,  of  Montgomery,  Ala.,  presented  a  petition  to  establish 
an  Endowment  Association,  "similar  to  those  established  in 
Districts  i,  3  and  6,"  wherein  it  is  stated  that  **  Many  of  the 
lodges  in  this  District  have  been  consulted.  From  a  large 
majority  of  them  favorable  answers  have  been  received-"  It 
was  referred  to  a  special  committee  of  five,  and  they  re- 
ported unanimously  in  favor  "  That  a  general  Endowment 
Fund  be  established  in  this  District  No.  2."  But  it  did  not 
receive  the  required  two-third  vote.  In  1871,  the  Missouri 
lodges  presented  a  memorial,  ''asking  the  District  Grand 
Lodge  to  pass  some  law  for  a  General  Endowment  fund 
throughout  the  District.'  The  majority  report  in  favor  of 
it  was  adopted,  aud  the  minority  report  even  said  :  "  Seeing 
as  I  do  the  very  successful  operation  of  an  Endowment  As 
sociation  in  Cincinnati,  I  strongly  favor  the  establishment 
of  similar  societies  wherever  they  can  be  successfully  and 
practically  carried  out  "  the  only  objections  being  that  it 
did  not  approve  of  a  forcible  (compulsory)  assessment,  and 
that  it  would  be  "  too  unwieldy  '  over  so  large  a  terri- 
tory. But  the  proposition  failed  to  receive  the  vote  of  the 
majority  of  the  Lodges,  and  was  therefore  declared  re- 
jected. 


II 

the  organization  of  an  Endowment  fund  is  so 
strong  that  //  may  become  the  cause  and  the  principal 
motive  for  a  separation  from  District  No.  2j  On 
the  other  hand,  the  opposition  to  its  establish- 
ment in  the  lodges  of  Ohio  was  mainly  due  to 
the  apprehension  that  it  might  interfere  with  the 
progress  of  the  endowment  association  already 
existing  and  in  supposed  prosperous  operation,  at 
Cincinnati.  Another  organization  of  this  kind, 
also  organized  by  and  for  members  of  our  Order, 
at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  being  aware  of  the  diffi- 
culties arising  from  a  too  limited  membership, 
desired  to  enlarge  its  field  of  operation  within  the 
fraternity;  while  again  some  lodges  favor,  and 
some  have  lately  established,  local  and  even 
separate  endowment  funds,  compelling  its  mem^ 
bers  to  pay  as  high  *as  five   dollars  on  the  death 


7 .  The  Southern  lodges  did  separate,  forming  our  Dis- 
trict No.  7.  The  official  report  on  the  installation  of  this 
new  Grand  Lodge  (on  January  19th,  1873,)  says  :  "  Proba- 
bly this  determination  (to  oppose  the  introduction  of  an 
Endowment  Law,  general  in  its  application,)  on  the  part  ot 
Lodges  of  Dist.  No.  2,  situated  in  a  more  Northern  cli- 
mate, hastened  the  establishment  of  an  independent  South- 
ern Grand  Lodge,  as  the  members  residing  in  the  South 
were  determined,  and  justly  so,  not  to  be  deprived  of  the 
benefits  of  this  wise  law.'^ 


13 

of  a  brother.  "8  In  this  Message,  the  President  of 
the  District  warned  the  brethren  against  errors, 
"errors  already  committed,  which  must  prove 
detrimental  to  the  future  welfare  of  the  Order." 
He  admits  that:  **To  secure  at  the  death  of 
every  member  to  his  widow,  orphans  or  heirs, 
an  amount  equal  to  the  aggregate  stipulated  con- 
tributions of  the  remaining  members,  seems  so 
simple,  plain  and  cheap  an  insurance,  that  it 
appears  to  have  advantages  which  naturally  re- 
commend it  to  a  favorable  consideration,  so  much 
so  that  not  only  in  our  own,  but  in  nearly  every 
fraternity  similar  benevolent,  so-called  co-opera- 
tive insurance  associations  exist,  or  have  been 
formed  from  time  to  time. 

But  have  they  been  successful  ?  " 

He  answered  this  question  by  telling  them  that 
^^their  history  is  one  of  failures,"  that  **all  failed 
or  had  to  be  abandoned  until  they  adopted  fixed 
rates  and  other  regulations  based  upon  sound 
principles  and  correct  calculation.  It  is  true  that 
many  similar  endowment  associations  do  now 
exist,  and  seem  to  do  well;  but  how  long  does 
any  one  of  these  exist?. .  .  .The  friends  of  these 
institutions  are  charmed  with   the  present  good 

8.  Solomon  Lodge,  No.  i6,  at  Cleveland,  O. 


13 

results  and  care  little  for  the  future?. ..  .They 
calculate  thus:  For  every  member  lost  by  death 
at  least  one  other  member,  and  likely  a  younger 
one,  is  added,  and  the  rate  of  mortality  will  re- 
main the  same.  This  rate,  they  believe  (and 
bring  in  as  evidence  the  last  20  years'  record  of 
our  Order)  will  never  exceed  one  per  cent. — This 
calculation  is  utterly  erroneous." 

The  message  then  tries,  by  arguments  and  fig* 
ures  to  convince  the  members  of  the  fallacy  of 
such  assumptions.  In  view  of  the  fact,  however, 
that  the  demand  for  an  Endowment  fund  was 
irrepressible,  the  President  tries  in  that  message 
to  ^^open  the  way  for  a  correct  future  solution  of 
this  problem,'" 

But  his  warning  voice  could  not  prevent  the 
passage  of  an  Endowment  Law  at  that  session. 
Propositions  for  an  Endowment  Law  of  the  Dis- 
trict were  presented, 9  and  after  several  days'  de- 
liberation one  was  adopted  ;^o  this  being  submitted 


9.  One  emanating  from  the  Memphis  Lodges,  in  which 
every  member  was  to  be  a  contributing  and  participating 
member,  and  one  from  Cincinnati,  in  which  membership 
was  to  be  voluntary. 

10.  This  was  the  first  and  only  endowment  plan  in  our 
Order  which  proposed  {graded  assessments  according  to  the 


to  the  lodges  of  the  District,  28  voted  in  favor 
and  only  1 1  against  it. 

An  appeal  against  this  law  was  at  once  taken 
to  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and  it  was  decided  ''  Un- 
constitutional for  its  non-uniformity. 

But  this  by  no  means  ended  or  quieted  the 
agitation." 


age  of  the  members.  The  constitution  of  District  No.  2, 
however,  provided  that  the  D.  G.  L.  shall  have  power  to 
pass  a  law  to  create  a  General  fund  of  the  District,  by 
levying  a  uniform  contribution  on  all  the  members  of  the 
several  lodges  in  the  District. 

II.  At  the  January  meeting,  1873,  the  report  of  the 
Committee  to  whom  the  Message  of  the  G.  N.  A.  was 
referred  contained  the  following  : 

**  We  beg  to  call  the  attention  of  the  worthy  D.  G.  L. 
to  the  almost  universal  desire  to  lay  before  them  some  prac- 
tical plan  of  Endowment  at  this  session.  Whilst  the  project 
of  the  Endowment  as  passed  last  year,  both  in  convention 
and  by  the  sub  lodges,  has  only  been  defeated  by  technical 
defects  of  the  law,  we  feel  that  it  is  not  only  the  urgent  de- 
sire of  the  majority  of  the  lodges,  but  also  of  the  members 
thereof,  to  again  prepare  such  a  bill  or  a  plan  for  adoption, 
.  but  we  also  feel  that  the  very  existence  of  our  beloved 
District  is  endangered  if  we  pass  this  important  question 
in  silence  " 

A  committee  was  appointed,  but  was  unable  to  agree, 
and  a  recommendation  or  suggestion,  that  '*it  is  the  univer- 
sal desire  of  the  Order  at  large  to  establish  a  General  En  - 
dowment  of  the  whole  Order,  when  in  session  in  Chicago  in 
1874,  which  not  alone  would  be  cheap  as  to  its  support,  but 


In  Jatiuafy,  1874,  the  Message  of  the  then 
G.  N.  A.  of  District  No.  2,  contains  the  following: 

"  Shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  last  annual 
meeting  of  the  D.  G.  L.,  there  was  great  dissension 
and  much  disappointment  and  dissatisfaction  expressed 
by  many  lodges  in  our  District,  for  the  non-enactment 
of  an  Endowment  Law.  In  many  lodges,  the  feelings 
were  so  bitter,  and  the  excitement  grew  so  intense, 
that  a  movement  was  set  on  foot  to  cut  loose  from 
those  sister  lodges  which  so  emphatically  opposed,  on 
every  occasion,  each  and  every  measure  towards  an 
enactment  of  an  Endowment  law,  and  organize  a  new 
Grand  Lodge  as  District  No.  8.  It  required  all  the 
efforts  of  prominent  and  influential  members  in  our 
District  to  defeat  this  movement,  and  preserve  har- 
mony and  unity.  .  .  .  It  is  far  from  my  intention 
to  propose  or  recommend  to  you  any  plan  for  the 
adoption  of  an  Endownient  Fund  in  this  District  at 
this  session,  although  out  of  s  ven  existing  Districts 
D.  G*  L.  No.  2  is  the  only  one  where  no  general  En- 
dowment fund  exists. 

"Thus  I  take  leave,  therefore,  to  impress  upon  you 
for  favorable  consideration  the  importance  that  D.  G. 
L.  No.  2  should  use  all  honorable  means  and  efforts 
in  her  p  ower  to  secure  a  General  Endowment  Fund 


also    charitable  and  liberal  in  its  bearings,*'  was  finally 
adopted  with  37  ayfes  against  14  nays. 


id 

throughout  the  whole  Order,  at  the  coming  constitu- 
tional convention." 

The  thought  that  the  District  Endowment 
funds  might  be  consolidated  in  the  future  was 
first  expressed  in  the  report  of  the  Executive 
Committee  for  1870."  It  was  again  referred  to 
in  the  report  for  1872,  and  the  confident  belief 
expressed  "  that  at  the  next  regular  convention 
of  the  Order  this  project  will  receive  due  atten- 
tion, and  in  some  form  or  other  will  be  carried 
out  by  the  framing  of  a  general  law." 

The  idea  of  one  general  Endowment-law 
seemed  to  meet  with  favor,  not  only  in  District 
No.  2,  as  already  shown,  but  also  in  other  Dis- 
tricts,*3  especially  with  members  of  broader  views, 


12.  **  A  great  improvement  on  the  old,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  this  new  method  will  be  generally  introduced,  and 
when  thoroughly  tested,  its  benefits  enlarged  and  diffused 
by  a  consolidation  of  all  the  YAsXxizXs, --The  President  of 
the  Exec.  Com,  Report'.   Jan.,  1870.    /.  17. 

13.  At  the  annual  session  of  D.  G.  L.  No,  6,  held  at 
Milwaukee,  January,  1873,  a  committee  report  was  adopted 
containing  the  following  :  *'  Upon  tnis  subject,  the  General 
Committee  inform  us  that  a  digested  scheme  to  make  the 
Endowment  Law  a  general  one,  embracing  all  districts  in 
the  Order,  will  likely  be  placed  before  the  General  Conven- 
tion of  1874..  The  General  Committee  express  no  opinion 
on  that  subject.  We  cannot  doubt  for  a  moment  that  the 
broad  principle  of  large  heartedness  and  liberal  judgment 


17 
whose  great  object  was  the  strengthening  of  our 
union,  the  solidarity  of  the  whole  Order  in 
measures  for  the  general  good — in  eontradiction 
to  the  separatism  nurtured  by  a  spirit  of  special 
interests  and  the  creation  of  sectionalism — fore- 
most among  them  its  honored  chief,  whose 
clear,  sound  judgment,  and  whose  pure  devotion 
to  our  cause,  are  so  well  known.  But  in  vain 
did  he  advocate  this  idea»^4  In  vain  did  he  ac 
company  his  report  with  a  carefully  prepared 
General  Endowment  plan,  showing  that  an  an- 
nual contribution  of  $15  from  every  member 
(then  about  10,000  in  number),  or  10  cents  at 
the  death  of  a  member,  until  the  amount  of  $15 
annually  be  reached,  would  produce  a  surplus 
during  the  early  years  which,  invested  at  seven 


which  form  the  basis  of  action  of  this  Grand  Lodge  will 
certainly  prompt  us  to  at  once  become  the  champions  of  the 
movement  to  secure  a  General  Endowment  Fund  through- 
out  the   Order With  all   the  brothers   of  the  Order 

united  in  one  grand  Endowment  Fund,  even  an  epidemic 
that — God  forbid — might  visit  any  particular  locality,  would 
not  be  a  severe  strain  upon  the  resources  of  the  individual 

contributing  member Besides,  whenever  we  succeed 

in  uniting  all  the  brothers  of  the  Order  in  the  maintenance 
of  any  noble  undertaking,  we  advance  one  step  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  very  purpose  of  our  existence." 

14.     Report  of  the  Executive  Committee,  Jan.,  1873. 


i8 

per  cent,  interest,  would  form  a  reserve  sufficient 
to  secure  the  permanency  of  the  Endowment 
institution.  In  vain  did  the  terrible  epidemic^s, 
just  then  afflicting  our  Southern  brethren,  present 
to  thinking  minds  and  warm  hearts  the  great 
advantages,  if  not  the  necessity,  of  one  general 
Widow  and  Orphan  fund. 

The  Jewish  press  of  this  country  was  then 
teeming  with  articles  on  the  Endowment  ques- 
tion. The  plan  for  ^;^^  general  Endowment  fund, 
recommended  in  the  Executive  Committee  re- 
port to  the  attention  of  the  next  General  conven- 
tion (meeting  in  Jan.,  1874,)  was  antagonized 
both  by  the  opponents  of  all  Endowment  laws 
and  by  the  friends  of  their  local  or  District  En- 
dowments lately  organized..  They  denounced  it 
as  a  usurpation  of  power  and  as  opposed  to  the 
sovereignty  of  lodges  ;  as  an  unjust  and  even 
unlawful  scheme ;  as  oppressive  to  the  poor  ;  as 
a  degradation  of  our  Order  to  a  mere  Life-In 
surance  business ;  as  leading  to  fraud,  even  to 
murder  (!) ;  as  producing  distrust,  aye,  rupture 
between  different  sections  of  the  country  ;  as 


15.  The  yellow  fever  visited  the  cities  of  Shreveport  and 
Memphis  with  unparalelled  virulence,  and  lasted  for  seven 
weeks,  from  Sept.  9th  to  end  of  Oct.,  1873. 


19 

creating  a  dangerous  power  and  a  monopoly  ;  as 
injurious  to  those  fortunately  situated  Districts 
whom  it  behooves  to  protect  themselves  against 
those  situated  in  sickly  parts  of  the  country  ;  as 
unnecessary,  most  of  the  Districts  having  their 
own  separate  Endowment  laws,  and  as  more  ex- 
pensive and  unwieldy  than  these  Districts  En- 
dowments. 

These  specious  arguments  and  criticisms  were, 
of  course,  also  ably  refuted  in  some  of  these 
journals  ;  but  the  seeds  of  discord  were  thrown 
in  our  midst,  the  clap-trap  and  sophistry  de- 
ceived those  at  least  who  did  not  fully  under- 
stand the  proposed  plan,  or  the  fallacy  of  their 
local  Endowment  systems — and  the  result  was, 
that  very  many  lodges,  those  of  District  No.  i 
almost  in  a  body,  instructed  their  delegates  to 
the  convention  to  vote  against  any  and  all  pro- 
positions for  one  General  Endowment  fund  of 
the  Order.  i6 


i6.  The  General  Committee  of  D.  G.  L.  No.  i  had  sub 
mitted  to  a  convention  of  its  lodges,  held  on  June  29th, 
1873,  a  series  of  **  instructions  to  delegates  to  the  Chicago 
convention,"  of  which  the  7th  was  as  follows  : 

**7th.  To  instruct  the  representatives  of  District  No.  i 
to  the  Chicago  convention  to  vote  and  work  against  the  in- 
troduction of  a  general  Endowment  fund  for  the  whole  Or- 


The  convention  met  (in  Chicago  Jan  25th-3oth, 
1874)  ;  a  committee  on  Endowment,  fairly  com- 
posed of  representatives  of  every  District,  with 
the  framer  of  the  proposed  General  Endowment 
plan  as  its  chairman,  was  appointed.  It  was  ev- 
ident to  all  that  neither  the  proposed  nor  any 
other  law  contemplating  a  General  Endowment 
fund  had  any.  chance  to  obtain  the  required  two- 
third  majority.  The  chairman,  having  no  per- 
sonal interest  in  the  matter,  and  fully  agreeing 
with  the  President  of  the  Order  in  the  conviction 
that,  "  Whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  this  proposi- 
tion^ general  and  uniform  regulations  of  the  En- 
dowment plan  are  absolutely  needed  throughout  the 
districts  of  the  Order  ^''^^  he  at  once,  in  conjunction 
with    an    eminent    member   of   said  committee 

der,  as  it  would  be  antagonistic  to  the  interest  of  this  District 
and  detrimental  to  the  Order  in  general." 

This  was  adopted,  though  the  plan  for  a  General  Endow- 
ment fund,  recommended  in  the  Executive  Committee's  re- 
port, was  not  yet  printed  at  that  time,  nor  even  known  to 
them,  and,  though  about  one-half  of  the  members  of  that 
convention  had  no  credentials,  the  representatives  of  the 
60  loJges  of  District  No.  i,  with  very  few  exceptions,  felt 
themselves  bound  by  those  instructions. 

17.  Report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  C.  G.  L., 
Jan.,  1872,  to  Jan.,  1873.  page36 


(from  Dist.  No.  i),  prepared  a  District  Endow- 
ment law,  which  left  the  direction,  management 
and  control  to  the  District  Grand  Lodges,  with 
only  one  feature  of  union  or  solidarity  :  that,  in 
case  of  epidemics  or  other  emergencies,  a  major- 
ity of  the  Executive  Committee  may  ')rder  a  levy 
of  five  cents  on  every  member  for  each  deceased 
brother,  until  such  emergency  shall  have  ceased. 

But  a  mijority  of  the  committee  would  not 
agree  to  even  this,  and  the  chairman  was  in  the 
unpleasant  position  not  only  of  having  to  make  a 
minority  report,  but  one  which  he  considered  a 
mere  compromise,  of  which  he  himself  could  not 
fully  approve. 

The  majority  of  the  committee  simply  declared 
"  that  in  the  present  state  of  the  Order  it  is  in- 
expedient and  premature  to  legislate  by  any 
general  laws  for  an  Endowment  plan  in  our 
Order." 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion  on  these  two 
reports,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  was  asked 
whether  he,  as  an  expert,  considered  the  plan 
reported  by  him  as  a  sufficient  safeguide  to  se- 
cure the  stability  of  the  Endowment,  and  he 
honestly  replied  that  he  did  not^  but  that  it  seemed 
the  best  now  attainable,  and  left  to  the  District 


Grand  Lodges  power  to  augment  their  reserve 
funds  as  experience  might  dictate.  This,  natur- 
ally, weakened  the  friends  of  the  measure,  so 
much  so  that  even  some  of  the  most  fervent  ad- 
vocates of  the  original  general  Endowment  plan 
denounced  the  now  proposed  bill  as  "  not  what 
was  wanted,"  and  it  was  lost  (54  voting  in  the 
affirmative,  78  in  the  negative).  Several  other 
propositions  shared  the  same  fate,  until  finally 
(on  the  fourth  day  of  the  convention)  the  follow- 
ing simple  resolution  was  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  the  establishment  of  Widows*  and 
Orphans'  Endowment  Funds,  by  District  Grand  Lod- 
ges, is  within  the  legitimate  scope  of  the  aims  and  ob- 
jects of  the  Order. 

As  soon  as  the  proposition  for  a  General  En- 
dowment Law  was  defeated,  the  representatives 
of  the  lodges  of  Michigan  asked  to  be  transferred 
to  District  No.  6,  and  a  further  division  of  Dis- 
trict No.  2  was  imminent,  unless  the  lodges  of 
Ohio  and  Indiana  gave  up  their  former  opposi- 
tion to  the  establishment  of  an  Endowment 
fund.  To  prevent  such  an  unfortunate  occur- 
rence, nearly  all  the  delegates  from  District  No. 
2  assembled  in  caucus  on  that  same  night  (Jan, 
28th  to  29th),  and  by  a  unanimous  vote  deter- 


23 

mined  that,  within  sixty  days,  a  special  meeting 
of  this  G.  L.  be  convened  at  Cincinnati,  in  order 
to  enact  a  proper  Endowment  law  for  their  Dis- 
trict. And  the  delegates  from  Cincinnati  pledged 
themselves  to  use  proper  efforts  with  their  lodges 
to  elect  representatives  favoring  the  measure. 

Within  two  months  from  the  adjournment  of 
the  convention  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  2 
held  the  special  meeting,  (on  March  i,  1874),. 
and  an  Endowment  law,  framed  on  the  same  plan 
as  the  one  originally  recommended  by  the  Exec- 
utive Committee  for  the  whole  Order,  was 
adopted  by  a  unanimous  vote.^s 

Every  District  had  now  its  Endowment  Law. 
All  were  pleased  with  the  practical,  beneficent 
working  of  the  system  ;  it  seemed  to  work  so 
well  !  Over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  were 
paid  annually  to  our  members'   widows  and  or- 


is. Twenty- four  lodges  were  fully  represented,  four  only 
unrepresented,  53  representatives  voting  aye,  none  in  the 
negative  ;  and,  though  the  old  persistent  opposition  set  to 
work  to  make  the  lodges  refuse  their  assent,  over  two- 
thirds  of  the  lodges  had  ratified  the  law  as  soon  as  submit- 
ted. On  May  ist,  1874,  it  went  into  operation,  and  26 
lodges  remitted  the  initiation  fee  for  their  members. 


24 


ph^ns.  without  anyone  feeling  it  a  burden  ;  the 
asacssmenis  were  light,  Why  should  it  not  ever 
so  remain  ? 


Part  II.  —  A  Study  of  its  Plans  /  their  Working , 
Defects^  and  the  Remedy. 


Our  Endowment  system  differs  from  that  of 
most  other  associations  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  securing  the  benefits  of  Hfe  insurance  by  assess- 
ments. These  Mutual  Benefit  Associations  con- 
sist either  of  members  organized  for  this  pur- 
pose, without  other  ties  or  obHgations,  and  se- 
lected under  certain  restrictions  as  to  age  and 
condition  of  health,  or  of  members  of  fraternal 
organizations,  of  which,  however,  those  only  are 
admitted  to  such  insurance  schemes  who  can 
comply  with  similar  conditions  and  are  willing  to 
pay  assessments  graded  according  to  age.i 

I  The  ninth  annual  conventiot?  of  Mutual  Benefit  As- 
sessment Associations  adopted  the  following :  "No  Organi 
zation  shall  beeligible  to  membership... that  shall  not  have  its 
fates  of  assessment  graded  according  to  one,  or,  the  com- 
bined standard  mortality  tables;  or,  when  a  uniform  rate  is 
charged,  that  shall  not  have  its  benefits  graded  according  to 
the  tables  of  life  expectation,  or  that  does  not  use  proper 
precaution  in  selection ;  or,  that  does  not  protect  the  en- 
trants, or  new  member,  at  any  time  in  its  history—  by  in- 
creasing the  rate  with   advancing  age  of  the  insured^  or  by 


36 

Our  fraternity,  the  I.  O.  B.  B.,  existed  over  a 
quarter  of  a  century  before  the  Endowment  fea- 
ture was  introduced.  It  was  not  conceived  as  an 
insurance  scheme,  but  simply  as  a  better  method 
of  supporting  the  widows  and  orphans  of  our 
brethren.  Our  Endowment  plans  are  broader 
and  more  Hberal,  embracing  all  our  members  at  a 
uniform  rate.  They  are  irresistibly  demanded 
by  our  lodges  (as  shown  in  Part  I,  "  its  early 
history  *')  are  demanded  as  a  necessity,  as  a  duty 
we  owe  to  each  other,  and  especially  to  the  older 
brethren,  to  those  who  had  worked  earnestly  and 
zealously  for  the  great,  noble  objects  of  our 
Order,  and  who  might  soon  depart  from  us — rely- 
ing on  the  aid  and  assistance  of  the  younger  ele- 
ment for  their  widows  and  orphans. 

Ours  is  a  charity — theirs  is  a  business. 

Charity  does  not  carefully  weigh  her  gifts  nor 

coldly  figure  her  resources  ;  she  gives. 

**Pity  dwelleth  in  her  bosom, 
Kindness  reigneth  o'er  her  heart, 
Gentle  thoughts  alone  can  stir  her. 
Judgment  hath  in  her  no  part." 

Hence  the  framers  of  our   Endowment-institu- 


accumulating  a  fund  in  lieu  of  increasing  rates^ — against 
beingassessed  more  than  the  natural  premium,  as  indicated 


27 

tion,  in  its  early  inception,  may  well  be  pardoned 
for  not  having  studied  the  questions  of  vital  sta- 
tistics, or  "what  will  be  the  rate  of  mortality  in 
future  years  ?  "  nor  having  calculated  anything, 
except :  ^'How  much  should  each  member  give 
at  the  demise  of  a  brother  to  enable  us  to  give 
about  $i,ooo  to  his  bereaved  family  ?2 

by  the  Am.  Mortality  Experience   Table; Provided^ 

this  article  shall  not  be  applicable  to  Fraternal  Societies 
already  organized^  where  there  are  ties  other  than  mere 
business  considerations.*' 

2.  Our  first  Widow  and  Orphan  Endowment  Law, 
adopted  by  D.  G.  L.  No.  i,  Jan.  23,  1869,  provided:  That 
at  the  death  of  a  brother  in  good  standing,  every  brother  of 
the  Order  in  this  District  shall  pay  the  sum  of  twenty-five 
cents  ;  (the  District  then  had  about  4,000  members) ;  that 
every  Lodge  of  the  District  shall  forward  twenty-five  cents 
for  every  ons  of  its  members  to  the  Lodge  wherein  the 
death  occurred,  and  that  the  total  amount  so  collected  shall 
be  handed  over  at  once,  by  the  Trustee  of  the  respective 
Lodge,  to  the  widow,  or  legal  heirs,  or  designated  repre 
sentatives  of  the  deceased  brother. 

The  General  Committee  was  requested  to  report  to  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Grand  Lodge  a  more  detailed  and  per- 
fected Endowment  Law,  loith  a  view  to  secure  perfect 
equality  and  safety  in  its  operation. 

In  January  1871  said  committee  did  report  a  new  Endow- 
ment law  which  limited  the  amount  of  the  endowments  to 
one  thousand  dollars  in  each  case,  leaving  it  to  the  Grand 


28 

This  seemed  so  simple  and  safe,  so  easily  car- 
ried out,  yet  so  perfectly  securing  the  desired 
object — a  more  effective  aid  to  the  widows  and 

Lodge  to  determine,  from  year  to  year,  the  amount  of  as- 
sessment, so  as  to  be  sufficient  to  secure  at  least  one  thou- 
sand dollars  by  equal  contributions  from  all  its  members. 
And  the  surphis  over  $i,ooo,  resulting  from  such  assess 
ment,  was  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Grand  Lodge,  which 
would  make-proper  disposition  of  the  same.  (Proceedings 
p.  G.  L.  No.  I,  Jan.  187 1,  pp.  46  and  47  ) 

The  Grand  Lodge  actually  resolved  that  '*as  soon  as  this 
surplus  will  amount  to  $2,000,  the  Endowments  for  the 
next  two  cases  of  death  shall  be  paid  therefrom  without 
making  for  same  any  assessment  on  the  Lodges,"  and  on 
February  5,  1872,  sUch  disposition  of  the  first  two  thousand 
dollars  of  (supposed)  surplus  was  actually  made. 

On  Jan.  27,  1873,  this  Grand  Lodge  again  resolved  that 
the  surplus  of  $9,000,  then  accumulated  in  their  W.  and  O 
Endowment  Fund  be  used  in  paying  the  next  nine  death- 
claims,  and  the  per  capita  tax  towards  that  fund  was  reduced 
to  seventeen  cents.  Every  proposition  to  keep  this  surplus 
as  a  reserve  fund,  or  at  least  not  to  reduce  the  tax  below 
twenty  cents,  was  voted  down. 

District  No.  3  provided  in  its  Endowment  Law  for  assess- 
ments of  fifty  cents  for  each  member,  and  that  the  total 
amount  received  be  handed  over  by  the  Trustee  of  the  res- 
pective Lodge  to  the  widow,  if  there  be  any;  or,  if  there  be 
no  widow,  to  the  children  or  their  legal  guardians,  etc. 
This  was  afterwards  so  amended   that  **each  Lodge  of  this 


29 

orphans  of  deceased  brethren,  without  any  of  the 
former   frequent  appeals  for  their  support — that 
scarcely  anything  further  seemed  necessary. 
A   Reserve-fund,    to    provide   against  possible 

District  shaK  be  so  assessed  as  to  make  the  sum  of  one 
thousand  dollars.  The  assessment  shall  be  made  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  pro  rata,  according  to  the 
number  of  members  reported  by  each  lodge  for  the  preced- 
ing quarter,  and  any  fractional  surplus  received  shall  be  set 
aside,  and  when  it  shall  amount  to  a  sufficient  sum,  it  shall 
be  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  the  next  death 
occurring." 

In  District  No.  6,  an  Endowment  Fund  had  been  in 
operation  since  September  1869.  In  accordance  with  its 
provisions  one  dollar  per  capita  was  collected  at  the  death 
of  a  brother,  and  the  full  amount  paid  over  to  the  widow, 
or,  in  absence  thereof,  to  the  lega^  representatives  of  the 
deceased  brother.  This  D.  G.  L.  was  the  first  to  place  the 
management  of  its  Endowment  fund  in  the  hands  of  a 
board  of  trustees,  and  to  contemplate  something  like  a 
sinking  fund,  which  was  to  be  derived,  however,  **from 
voluntary  contributions,  donations  and  legacies  of  individu- 
als and  brothers,  as  well  as  of  the  several  lodges,  or  from 
any  other  source." 

In  District  No.  4  an  Endowment  fund  went  into  effect 
from  the  23d  of  Februaiy,  1872— each  lodge  being  required 
to  pay  $1.25  for  every  member,  at  the  death  of  a  brother^ 
and  the  whole  amount  so  collected  was  to  be  paid  to  the 
widow,  etc. 


contingencies,  and  for  the  certain  increase  of 
mortality  in  later  years,  was  so  little  thought  of 
that  in  all  of  our  first  District- Endowment  laws  the 
entire  amount  resulting  from  an  assessment  was 
given  to  the  family  of  the  deceased  brother  Soon 
afterwards  the  Endowment  was  limited  to  $1000, 
but  then  also,  the  excess  above  that  amount,  re- 
ceived by  such  assessments,  was  to  be  used  for 
paying  endowments  as  soon  as  it  would  be  suffi- 
cient for  such  purpose.3 

The  only  difficulties  that  seemed  to  present 
themselves  in  the  beginning,  were: 

I.  The  irregularities  and  delays  in  transmitting 
the  Endowment  dues  and  consequently  in  the 
payments  to  the  beneficiaries,  etc.4 

3.  In  District  No.  7,  however,  the  sum  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred dollars  was  to  be  secured  to  the  widow  of  a  deceased 
member  by  assessments  of  one  dollar  for  every  member  of 
the  District.  "And  whenever  the  surplus  thus  received 
above  said  amount  shall  reach  the  amount  of  $1500  or 
more,  the  sum  shall  be  employed  in  paying  the  next  endow  - 
ment,  and  when  so  adjusted,  the  assessment  provided  for  in 
Sect,  4,  shall  not  be  levied." 

4.  From  the  report  of  a  committee  appointed  by  D.  G. 
L.,  No.  I,  to  revise  the  W.  and  O.  Endowment  Law,  dated 
Junes,  1872,  we  quote :  Durch  das  dftere  Wechseln  der 
Beamten,  und  mitunter  durch   UnfS.higkeit  derselben,  ent- 


31 

2.  The  extensive  and  frequently  useless  cor- 
respondence, in  matters  of  the  Endowment-law, 
between  the  various  Lodges  and  their  respective 
District  Grand  Lodge,  increasing  the  labor  and 
absorbing  the  attention  of  the  General  Committees 
to  the  detriment  of  their  other  affairs.s 

3.  The  complications  and  questions  as  to  the 
rights  of  beneficiaries,  arising  from  the  terms 
"legal  heirs"  and  '4egal   representatives"  of  de- 

steht  in  vielen  Fallen  solche  Verz5gerung,  dass  die  Hinter- 
lassenen  eines  verstorbenen  Bruders  zuweilen  ihre  Beziige 
eist  nach  Ablauf  von  drei  oder  vier  Monaten  erhalten  und 
die  Ueberschiisse  mitunter  erst  nach  Ablauf  eines  Jahres 
und  meistens  sehr  unvoUkommen  in  die  Hande  der  Gross - 
Loge  gelangen.  In  January  1874  the  Grand  Sopher  of 
District  No.  I  had  still  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  to  the  negligence  of  some  lodges  in  failing  to  send 
their  proper  proportion  of  the  amounts  due  for  endowment 
in  proper  time,  notwithstanding  the  frequent  notices  sent 
to  them." 

5.  The  heretofore  quoted  Report  of  the  General  Com- 
mittee of  D.  G.  L.  No  I.  contains  the  following: 

I)  Erzeugt  die  Ausfiihrung  desselben  (des  W.  u.  W. 
Unteistiitzungs  Gesetzes)  eine  umfangrei^he  und  mitunter 
nicht  sehr  erspriessliche  Correspondenz,    sowohl   fflr   die 

Distr.  Gross- Loge,   als  auch  fiir  die  Logen  selbst 

und  ist  zu  erwarten,  dass  die  anderweitigen  GeschS^fte  der 
Gross-Loge  durch  diese  besondere  Auflage  merklich  beein- 
trftchtigt  werden.  » 


3^ 

ceased  brethren,  which  terms  are  still  used   in 
most  of  our  District  Endowment  laws.^ 


6.  As  early  as  1871  the  question  arose,  in  the  case  of 
Bro  Reblaub,  of  Hillel  Lodge  No.  28,  as  to  how  to  act, 
the  deceased  brother  having  no  heirs  in  this  country,  but  in 
Europe  and  in  South  America.  The  cases  of  Bro.  Phil.  L. 
Bachman  of  N.  Y.  Lodge  No.  i,  and  of  Bro.  Emil  Indig, 
of  Manhattan  Lodge  No.  156,  which  gave  rise  to  consider 
able  disputes  and  appeals  (See  Proceedings  of  D.  G.  L. 
No.  I  of  1874-75,  pp.  57-66  :  also  pp.  89-965  also  pp.  103, 
106-109,  and  Court  of  Appeals,  Appeal  No.  21  -,  Report 
1874- 1875,  PP-  76  132.)  involved  the  question  of  the  claim 
of  alleged  keirs  to  the  Endowment. 

I.  A.  Stoddard,  Sec'y  N.  W.  Masonic  Aid  Association, 
in  an  essay  on  "The  Law  governing  Beneficiaries,  says : 

"There  are  several  very  nice  and  intricate  questions  in- 
volved in  the  use  of  this  term  ''^ legal  heirs,  ^^  which  render 
this  manner  of  writing  certificates  very  undesirable  and  one 
which  we  should  seek  to  avoid  as  much  as  possible.  This 
term  ^ Uega I  heirs''^  \s  very  m^Q^mtQ,     It  is  a  term  used  to 

designate  certain  persons  unknown  to  us it  may  mean 

one  person  to  day  and  another  to-morrow,  and  so  on  ;  and 
many  law- suits  have  already  been  tried  to  determine  who 
were  meant  in  certain  cases,  where  the  term  has  been  used 

and  to  our  own  difficulties  may  be  added  contention 

among  the  heirs  themselves.^' 

A  Committee,  appointed  by  the  Convention  of  Mutual 
Benefit  Associations  reported  on  this  subject  a  recommend- 
ation— 

"That  all  Associations  be  particular  in  requiring  all 
applicants  for  membership  to  state  distinctly  and  definitely 
the  names  of  the  beneficiaries,  and,  in  case  of  the  death  of 


33 

These  difficulties  were  soon  overcome  by- 
changes  in  the  management,  in  the  mode  of  col- 
lection, etc.,   special    standing    committees,   or 


the  beneficiary  oefore  the  death  of  the  member,  the  applica- 
tion should  also  clearly  designate  the  person  or  persons  to 
succeed  to  the  benefit." 

M.  Ulman,  G.  S.  of  D.  G.  L.  No.  7,  in  his  great  work 
"Jurisprudence  of  the  I.  O.  B.  B,"  page  754.  says  :  "To 
designate  *  legal  /le'rs,'  (as  beneficiaries  of  an  Endowment) 
opens  the  way  for  litigation,  and  the  benefit  intended  to  be 
an  act  of  benevolence  and  an  assistance  to  beneficiaries,  be- 
comes a  bone  of  contention,  a  benefit  to  lawyers,  and  a  prey 
to  courts.  To  designate  legal  heirs  is  not  a  legal  designa- 
tion. It  is  not  sufficient,  under  the  provision  of  the  Endow- 
ment-law, for  a  brother  who,  in  case  of  death,  would  leave 
neither  widow  nor  orphans,  to  designate  that  his  legal  heirs 

should  receive  the  endowment To  prevent  litigation, 

every  brother  should  designate  by  name  the  party  or  parties 
he  intends  to  benefit  by  his  endowment." 

District  Grand  Lodge  No.   4  decided  that  it  is  not  suffi 
cient,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Endowment-law,  for   a 
brother  who,  in  case  of  death,  would  leave  neither   widow 
nor  orphans,  to  designate  that  his  legal  heirs  should  receive 
the  endowment.  (Proceedings  1873,  PP.  46,  47-) 

In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  the  provi- 
sions contained  in  most  of  our  District  Endowment-laws, 
giving  widowers  or  unmarried  members  the  right  to  designate 
any  person  or  persons,  other  than  members  of  his  family  or 
charitable  institutions,  as  beneficiaries,  is  not  only  contrary 
to  the  spirit  and  object  of  our  Endowment  institutions,  but 


34 

Boards  of  Trustees  being  appointed  for  these 
purposes  7 
The  members  were  proud  of  the  many  praises 


contrary  to  the  laws  of  most  of  our  States.  Hon.  Judge 
Geo.  HoAdley,  one  of  the  first  jurists  of  this  country,  now 
Governor  of  Ohio,  to  whom  the  question  was  submitted, 
gave  the  following  written  opinion:  "The  plan  or  law  of 
Endowment  of  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  2  is  lawful,  ex- 

*  cept  in  one  particular,  viz.,  in   permitting  the  benefits  to 

*  accrue  to  'designated   beneficiaries. '     This  is  Life  Insur- 

*  ance,  and  not  permissible  under  the  incorporation  of  this 

*  body  (for  benevolent  purposes).     If  the  plan  of   Endow- 

*  ment  should  be  amended  so  as  to  confine  its  operations  to 
'  members  of  the  family  and  charitable  institutions,  it  will 
•be  unobjectionable.'*  The  Endowment -law  of  District 
No.  2  was  thereupon  amended  to  that  effect. 

7.  In  January,  1873,  the  General  Committee  of  District 
Grand  Lodge  No.  i  recommended  that  the  management  of 
its  Endowment  fund,  its  collections  and  payments  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  standing  committee  (Fiinfter  Ausschuss.) 
This  recommendation  being  adopted  in  Jan.  1874,  reduced 
the  number  constituting  such  committee  to  three  only.  In 
1877  the  Grand  Sopher  of  said  District  made  the  following 
report  to  an  Endowment  Commission  of  District  Grand 
Lodge  No.  6  :  *  *The  change  is  so  beneficial  that  a  Lodge 
need  hardly  ever  to  be  reminded  of  paying  her  dues  within 
thirty  days  from  receipt  of  the  notice  of  death,  and  all  death 
claims  are  paid  within  thirty  days  from  the  date  the  Grand 
Lodge  is  notified — while  formerly,  when  the  Lodges  col- 


35 

bestowed  upon  our  Order  for  having  introduced 
this  noble  mode  of  immediately  relieving  the 
widow  of  a  deceased  brother.  Every  District 
was  highly  pleased  with  the  working  of  its  own 
Endowment-fund,  and  deemed  it  almost  perfect. 
The  favorable  reports  received  from  different 
Grand  Lodges  caused  the  Executive  Committee 
to  say  in  its  report  for  1874-1875  :  **  Widow  and 
Orphan  Endowment  Institutions  are  now  suc- 
cessfully established  in  every  District  of  the 
Order.  Disputes  and  differences  are  happily 
adjusted,  and  all  opposition  has  been  silenced  by 
the  practical,  beneficial  working  of  the  system." 
So  firm  was  the  belief  in  the  safety  of  that  sys- 
tem and  its  workings,  that  scarcely  any  attempts 
were  made  to  provide  for  a  proper  Reserve  fund. 
Although  even  as  early  as  July,  1872,  the  General 
Committee  of  D.  G.  L,  No.  i,  in  its  report  to  the 
Grand  Lodge,  presented  the  question  of  securing 
the  W.  and  O.  Endowment  institution,  without 
overburdening  the  fraternity,  at  some  future 
time,  when  the   mortality  should  increase,^  and 

lected  and  paid  the  Endowments,  widows  had  sometimes  to 
wait  from  four  to  six  months.*' 

8.     **Die  Frage  ist  und  muss  sein .... hauptsS;Chlich 


36 

although  this  subject  was  then  referred  to  a 
committee,  nothing  was  done.  Every  motion  to 
let  the  small  surplus  from  Endowment  dues  ac- 
cumulate, toward  at  least  the  beginning  of  a 
sinking  fund  was  rejected,  even  the  proposition 
of  the  Committee  to  postpone  action  with  re- 
gard to  the  formation  of  a  sinking  fund  until 
after  the  General  Convention  of  the  Order,  to 
be  held  in  January,  1874,  it  being  assumed  that 
laws  would  there  be  enacted  with  regard  to 
the  Endowment  institution,  placing  it  on  an 
equal  basis  throughout  the  Order  "9  —  even 
this  proposition  was  referred  to  the  Lodges  of 
the  District  that  they  might  instruct  their  repre- 
sentatives as  to  how  they  should  vote  thereon. 

The  prevailing  belief  at  that  time  was  that  a 
reserve  fund  was  not  necessary  for  the  safety 
and  perpetuity  of  the  Endowment  institution 
This  belief  was  largely  based  on  the  delusion 
that   the   ^Hnfusion    of  young  hlood^''  the   addi- 


aber  wie  kann  die  Ausf iihrung  der  Wittwen-  und  Waisen- 
Unters'utzungfiir  die  Zukunft  bei  zunehmender  Sterblich- 
keit,  ohne  eine  Ueberbiirdung  der  Briiderschaft,  sicherge- 
stellt  werden.''-   Report D,  G.  L.  No.  i,  i%^2,page  91. 

9.     See    Reports  of  D.  G.  L.  No.   i,  Nov.   24,  1872, 
page  126. 


37 

tion  of  new  members  in  place  of  those  lost  by 
death  and  withdrawal,  prevents  the  advance  in 
age.  It  was  supposed  that  the  average  age  would 
remain  the  same,  and  consequently  the  mortality 
would  not  materially  increase  ;  and  that,  even 
should  this  slightly  increase,  our  members  would 
always  be  willing  and  ready  to  pay  the  assess- 
ments required  for  the  support  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  for  their  brethren.  It  was  even 
contended,  by  the  opponents  of  a  reserve  fund, 
that  "as  the  membership  grew,  the  per  capita  tax 
would  decrease^''  that  "the  more  members  came 
in,  the  less  would  be  required  to  be  paid  by  each 
member  annually/* 

This  delusion,  long  and  often  disproved,  was 
just  then  resurrected  by  a  number  of  Mutual 
Benefit  and  Assessment  Life  Insurance  Associa- 
tions, whose  ascendancy  was  favored  by  numer- 
ous failures  and  a  consequent  wide-spread  dis- 
trust of  the  regular  Life  Insurance  Companies. 
From  but  eight  Mutual  Benefit  Organizations  of 
this  kind,  in  1867,  they  increased  during  the 
flight  of  a  few  years  until  they  were  numbered 
by  hundreds,  all  claiming  to  furnish  life-insur- 
ance at  greatly  reduced  cost  and  without  large 
reserve  fund.     They  were  conducted  under  dif- 


38 

ferent  systems,  more  or  less  faulty  and  imper- 
fect, yet  sustained  by  a  membership  of  hundred 
thousands  and  were  collecting  and  paying  over 
to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  their  respective 
members— who  happened  to  die  first—millions  of 
dollars. '° 

Why  should  not  our  brethren  have  believed 


lo.  With  some  few  exceptions  these  associations  were 
organized  with  purely  charitable  motives,  and  stimulated  by 
a  growing  dissatisfaction  with  ordinary  Life  Insurance. 
The  late  Alex.  Gardner,  Secretary  Beneficial  Endowment 
Association,  Washington,  D.  C,  one  of  the  ablest  advo- 
cates of  the  Assessment  plan,  said  in  an  address  to  the 
fourth  Annual  Convention  of  the  National  Mutual  Benefit 
Associations : 

'*It  may  be  said,  without  impropriety,  that  we  in 
a    great     measure,    without    either    chart    or     compass, 

drifted  into  existence We  all  know  that  forms  of 

thought  sweep  over  a  country  like  a  tidal  wave,  and  Relief 
or  Mutual  Benefit  Associations  seem  at  this  time  to  be  in 
the  ascendant As  a  matter  of  course,  a  large  num- 
ber will  never  amount  to  anything  except  to  be  chronicled 
as  having  had  an  existence  and  died."  Many  have  died 
since  then,  and  left  a  terrible,  a  warning  record;  some  asso- 
ciations have  continued  to  g^ow  and  flourish,  but  have  done 
so  only  by  making  changes  in  their  plans,  as  experience  and 
sound  philosophy  have  shown  them  the  better  way.  What 
progress  has  been  made  in  the  growth  and  maturity  of  their 
ideas  is  best  shown  by  the  platform  adopted  at  their  last 
convention,  held  in  October  1884,  at  Cincinnati.  See  Note 
I  U  Part  II of  this  article. 


39 

that  our  death  rate  would  remain  as  it  was,  at 
least  for  many,  many  years,  and  the  average  age 
never  increase  to  any  considerable  extent  ?  They 
did  not  take  the  trouble  to  think,  much  less  to 
figure,  how  it  would  be  possible  that  with  ad- 
vancing years  the  average  age  should  remain  the 
same.  They  had  been  told  by  good  and  trust- 
worthy men  that  the  rate  of  mortality  in  the  old 
Masonic  fraternity  was  now  but  a  small  fraction 
over  one  per  cent.;  that  the  oldest  Life  Insurance 
Companies  in  this  country  do  not  show  much  in- 
crease in  their  mortality  rates."  These  were 
facts,  and  facts  were  a  better  proof  than  mere 
theories  and  mathematical  calculations  that  they 
could  not  understand. 

Most   people    imagine   every  question    con- 


II.  This  phenomen  could  be  easily  explained  by  the 
excessive  ^'lapses'*  (withdrawals)  prevailing  in  those  so- 
cieties. It  has  been  shown  from  their  own  reports  that  in 
the  Masonic  fraternity,  out  of  an  average  membership  of 
373,634,  the  duration  of  membership  was  fourteen  years,  in 
the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  out  of  an  average  membership 
of  259,000,  in  twenty-seven  years,  the  average  duration  was 
only  ten  years,  and  in  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company 
of  New  York  the  average  duration  of  a  policy  was  six  years 
only !  etc* 


40 

nected  with  life  insurance  a  very  difficult 
mathematical  problem,  whilst  in  reality  it  re- 
quires nothing  but  mere  common-sense  to  know 
that,  as  each  year  we  are  growing  one  year 
older,  the  additional  new  members  to  any  society 
would  have  to  be  younger  by  just  as  many  years 
as  all  the  surviving  members  have  grown  older 
in  the  aggregate  during  the  year,  in  order  that 
the  average  age  might  remain  the  same.  If  out 
of  one  hundred  members — the  matter  of  age  be- 
ing immaterial — one  die,  the  surviving  ninety- 
nine  members  would  at  the  end  of  the  year,  and 
in  the  aggregate,  be  ninety-nine  years  older.  By 
adding  a  new  member  for  the  one  lost  by  death; 
the  number  of  members  would  again  be  the  same, 
but  to  balance  also  the  advance  in  age,  this  new 
member  would  have  to  be  ninety-nine  years 
younger  than  the  one  who  died.  This  would 
scarcely  be  possible.  By  adding  eleven  members, 
however,  each  nine  years  younger,  the  ninety- 
nine  years  would  again  be  gained,  but  there 
would  then  be  hundred  and  ten  members  of  the 
same  average  age  as  the  original  one  hundred 
were  one  year  before. 

And   this  was  exactly  the  case  in  our  Order  at 
that  time,  especially  in  the  older  districts,  with 


•  41 

many  members  quite  advanced  in  years,  and 
where  the  accession  of  many  new  lodges,  with 
young  members,^2  considerably  retarded  the  ad- 
vance of  the  average  age. 

That  this  would  not,  aye,  could  not  continue 
for  any  length  of  time,  was  foreseen  by  our  more 
intelligent  and  experienced  members.  In  the 
history  of  every  social  organization  there  comes 
a  time  when  it  is  impossible  to  increase  its  mem- 
bership, and  when  not  more  new  members  will 
join  than  about  enough  to  supply  the  places 
of  those  who  die  and  withdraw.^?  But  even  had, 
or  would,  such  increase  in  membership  continue 
in  the  future,  the  death  rate   would  nevertheless 


12.  The  total  membership  of  our  Order  was : 

Increase  in.  Ann.  percent. 

July  1868  8,802  members. 

Jan.  1870  10,343         *'         13^  years=::i54i  or  iij^  " 

Jan.  1871  11,742         **         I  year       =1399  or  133^  *' 

Jan.  1872  13,327         *'         I  year      =1585  or  i3K  " 

Jan.  1873  14,851         **         I  year      =11524  or  ii)^  ** 

Jan.11874  15,997        *'        I  year      =1146  or    7^  " 

13.  Most  Assessment  Insurance  Associations  assume 
that  nine  per  cent,  of  their  members  would  lapse  annually, 
and  that  by  replacing  these  also  with  younger  members  they 
would  be  able  to  maintain  the  average  age. 


42 

increase,  as  average  age  is  no  true  basis  to  the 
rate  of  mortality.  »4 

Our  lodges  number  upon  their  rolls  a  majority 
of  men  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  but 
few  of  these  have  leisure  to  devote  to  this  sub- 
ject ;  some  of  them  are  men  of  large  business- 
enterprise,  to  whom  individually  the  benefit  of  one 
thousand  dollars  is  a  matter  of  little  concern;  and 
while  they  admit  that  it  is  a  subject  of  much  im- 
portance to  a  large  number  of  their  brethren, 
they  excuse  themselves  from  any  effort  to  en- 
lighten them,  on  the  ground  that  the  very  mem- 
bers who  most  need  this  benefit  would  neither 
listen  nor  meditate,  but  would  rely  on  the  small 
mortality  now  experienced,'5  on  the  glittering 
promises  of  some  assessment-insurance  agents, 
and  would  elect  those  only  as  their  representa- 
tives to  the  Grand  Lodge  who  would  promise  to 
work  and  vote  against  any  increase  of  taxation. 

14.  For  example :  In  an  equal  number  of  members  ag«d 
30  and  60  years,  their  average  age  being  45  years,  the  mor- 
tality would  be  at  the  rate  of  17  in  rooo,  while  at  the  age  of 
45  years  the  mortality  should  really  be  only  11  in  1 000. 

15.  In  1873,  District  No.  i  had  a  mortality  ot  7  in  xoooj 
District  No.  4,  5  and  6  even  less  than  5  in  1000  members. 


43 

Although  the  proposed  General  Endowment 
Law  was  defeated  by  the  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge,  in  1874,  this  defeat  caused  an  agitation 
that  began  to  shake  the  popular  delusion^  It 
not  only  led  to  the  adoption  of  an  Endowment 
plan  in  District  No.  2,  that  made  provision  for 
the  accommodation  of  a  large  reserve  fund  by  a 
per  capita  taxation  of  $15  per  aTinum,^^  and  that 
was  in  all  other  respects  similar  to  the  law  ori- 
ginally proposed  by  the  Executive  Committee, 
but  it  opened  the  way  for  a  reform  of  the  En- 
dowment fund  in  every  District. 

The  warning  voice  of  the  President  of  ths 
Order,  cautioning  its  members,  that  without  re- 


16.  The  Endowment  law  of  District  No.  2  provided  for 
**an  assessment  of  seventy-five  cents  at  the  death  of  a  mem- 
ber, but  said  assessments  shall  never  exceed  the  sum  of  $15, 
per  capita^  in  any  one  year."  This  district  then  embraced 
200  members,  thus  paying  proportionately  the  same 
amount  as  would  have  been  paid  under  an  Endowment-law, 
embracing  the  entire  Order,  with  its  16,000  members,  pay- 
ing ten  cents  at  the  death  of  a  member.  In  either  case  the 
mortality,  at  9  in  1,000,  could  safely  be  assumed  to  produce 
$15.  Other  Districts  were  very  quick  in  adopting  the  limi- 
tation to  $15,  but  did  not  provide  for  assessments  large 
enough,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  their  members,  to 
produce  that  amount. 


•  44 

serve  fund  "the  annual  taxation  must  increase  to 
such  an  extent  that  at  no  great  distance  of  time 
its  practical  execution  will  cease" — awoke  the 
brethren  from  their  dreams  concerning  the  safety 
of  our  system.  The  incontrovertible  principle 
enunciated  in  the  report  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, that  "the  Endowments  of  those  who  die 
early  must  be.  paid  by  those  who  live  long,"  en- 
tirely dispelled  the  delusion  of  a  constant 
mortality  of  one  per  cent.;  for,  as  not  a  single 
member  could  be  expected  to  live  long  enough 
to  pay,  at  this  rate,  the  one  thousand  dollars  for 
himself,  much  less  could  he  be  expected  to  pay, 
besides  (at  the  rate  of  $io  or  less  per  annum), 
for  those  who  would  die  early.  And  so  the 
members  began  to  see  or  to  feel  that  their  small 
payments  were  insufficient. 

The  time  had  come  when  measures  for  a 
proper  reserve  fund  could  have  been  successfully 
introduced  into  every  district ;  in  fact,  it  was  a 
step  generally  expected  to  be  taken  by  the  Grand 
Lodges.  But  the  majority  of  representatives 
lacked  either  the  knowledge  or  the  courage — 
perhaps  both — to  adopt  such  measures.  They 
knew  that  a  reserve  fund  was  now  demanded; 
they  also  knew  that  in   order  to  accumulate  a 


45 

sum,  adequate  for  the  purposes  intended,  in- 
creased taxation  would  be  necessary.  They 
could  not  assent  to  the  latter  proposition,  much 
less  offer  it  for  consideration.  Had  they  not 
always  spoken  in  favor  of  *'the  poor  man,"  and 
opposed  the  accumulation  of  large  funds  as  un- 
necessary and  dangerous  ?  Had  they  not  even 
pledged  themselves  to  work  and  vote  against 
every  increase  of  taxation  ?  An  Endowment  sys- 
tem, similar  to  the  one  adopted  by  District  No. 
2,  would  necessitate  an  annual  contribution  of 
$15,  nearly  double  the  sum  paid  by  the  members 
of  their  own  district,  and  would  be  disliked  by 
their  Lodges.  They  doubted  the  success  of  the 
plan  which  District  No.  2  had  adopted.  At  all 
events,  it  would  be  safest  to  wait  and  see  how  it 
worked  there,  and  ihey  concluded,  in  their  wis- 
dom, that  it  behooved  them,  as  prudent  and 
careful  legislators,  to  adopt  a  reserve  fundy  of 
some  kindy  without  imposing  any  additio7ial  bur- 
den on  the  members*  This  would  be  popular  ! 
Would  it  be  sufficient.  They  knew  little  and 
cared  less. 

In  District  No.  i,  the  W.  and  O.  Endow- 
ment Committee  recommended  (on  July  26th, 
1874)  the  establishment  of  a  reserve  fund  to  be 


46 

constituted  from  the  accumulation  of  small  sur- 
plus amounts  above  the  sum  of  $i,ooo,  received 
in  the  collection  of  assessments  (@  i6  cts.)  at 
the  death  of  a  member^  This  "surplus"  then 
amounted  to  $8,406.75,  and  to  it  was  to  be  ad- 
ded such  surplus  as  was  derived  from  each 
future  assessment,  together  with  the  interest  on 
its  investment.  At  the  end  of  five  years,  Endow- 
ments should  be  paid  out  of  this  fund  whenever 
the  number  of  deaths  exceeded  the  ratio  of  one 
per  cent,  of  the  brethren  of  said  District.  The 
said  committee  at  the  same  time  recommended 
that  the  rate  of  assessments  be  reduced  from  time 
to  time,  so  that  the  Endowment  plan  would  be 
economic,  yet  consistent  with  the  safety  of  this 
benefit.17 


17.  The  following,  copied  from  the  said  official  report 
(1874-75,  pp.  91,  92),  is  characteristic  :  '^As  to  the  estab- 
lishment  of  a  Sinking  or  Reserved  Fund  it  must  be  apparent 
to  the  Grand  Lodge  that  in  order  to  insure  the  payment  of 
the  $1,000,  and  to  secure  brethren  from  onerous  assessment 
which  may  arise  by  a  large  and  sudden  increase  in  the  death 
rate,  owing  to  epidemic  or  general  disaster  ( !  ?  j  some  mea- 
sure looking  to  the  formation  of  a  Reserved  Fund  should  be 
adopted.  Your  Committee  therefore  present  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Grand  Lodge  the  following  plan  of  a  Re- 
served Endowment  Fund,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  meet  the 
demands  of  the  District.'* 

"The  object  in  view  is  not  the  amassing  of  a  large  fund, 


47 

This  recommendation  was  adopted  at  the 
Grand  Lodge  session  of  1875. 

The  immediate  result  of  this  law  was,  that,  in 
1876,  the  rate  of  Endowment  Assessments  was 
reduced  to  fifteen  cents,  although  in  the  preced- 
ing year  the  full  amount  paid  by  each  member 
was  merely  ;?7.2o.  In  1877,  it  was  further 
reduced  to  fourteen  cents,  and  in  1879  to  thir- 
teen and  a  half  cents,  thus,  up  to  December  31, 
1878,  producing  a  reserve-fund  of  only  $44,757.- 
38  with  a  membership  of  8,495,  ^^  whom  more 
than  four  hundred  were  above  the  age  of  sixty, 
some  of  them  over  seventy  years  of  age.  In  the 
face  of  these  facts  the  Grand  Lodge  members, 
in  charge  of  this  fund,  continually  spoke  of  its 
"growing  magnitude,"  and  while  they  admitted 
that  the  Reserve-fund  would  become  a  necessity, 
if  the  institution  was  to  be  a  permanent  one,  and 
should  be  increased  as  much  and  as  rapidly  as 
possible — they  did  not  propose  an  increase  of 
the  Endowment  tax.  18 


to  burden  the  brethren,  but  a  sure  and  gradual  accumula^ 
tion,  and  it  is  herewith  recommended  that  the  Endowment 
rate  be  reduced  from  time  to  time,  so  that  it  will  be  econo- 
mic, at  the  same  time  consistent  with  the  safety  of  this 
benefit." 

18.     See  Report  of  the  W.  and  O.  Reserve  fund  Com- 


48   . 

District  No.  6,  the  progressive  District,  ever 
going  '^onward,"  was  the  first  to  establish  a  sink- 
ing fund  in  connection  with  its  Endowment  plan. 
This  was  done  as  early  as  1869,  but  also  without 
making  any  provision  for  its  revenue,  with  the 
exception  of  ^'voluntary  contributions,  donations, 
legacies,  etc  ,"  to  which  at  a  later  date  were  ad- 
ded *'the  proceeds  of  the  per  capita  tax  for  the 
Endowment-fund,  in  excess  of  the  $1,000,  to  be 
paid  into  the  sinking  fund." 

In  1874,  the  General  Committee,  in  its  official 
report  to  the  Grand  Lodge,  wrote  :  "  The  sink- 
ing fund  was  created  by  the  Endowment,  and 
ought  by  law  to  be  used  for  no  other  than  En- 
dowment purposes.  We  have  evidence  before 
us  from  a  mathematician  who  has  worked,  and 
now  works,  for  Insurance  Companies  as  actu- 
ary, that  without  reserve  we   cannot  exist,i9  and 


mittee,  [an  .25th,  1871. — Proceedings  D.  G.L,  No.  1  p.  63. 

19.  Every  authority  on  Life-insurance  will  confirm  this. 
Numerous  testimony  to  the  same  effect,  obtained  from  about 
twenty  experts  was  published  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  May 
6,  1880.  Cornelius  Walford,  of  London,  England,  an  ac- 
knowledged authority  on  Life-insurance,  wrote  : 

"I  confess  I  have  looked  with  amazement  at  the  develop- 
ment— I  will  rather  say,  the  craze — which  has  set  in  for  the 


49 

this  reserve  is  in  our  Endowment  sinking 
fund.'*  The  committee,  therefore,  recom- 
mended that  the  taxation  be  eighty  cents,  which, 
with  1500  members,  would  amount  to  $1200, 
leaving  a  surplus  of  $200  for  the  sinking  fund. 

But  this  was  dissented  from  by  the  Grand 
Lodge  members,  and  the  committee,  to  whom 
that  report  was  referred,  commented  thereon  as 

follows  : "  This  new  idea,  debated  upon  in 

all  Lodges,  and  condemned  in  many  instances, 
is  the  creation  of  a  large  Reserve  fund,  to  pro- 
vide for  emergencies  in  cases  of  epidemics  or 
other  unforeseen  causes.  =<»      The    establishment 


promulgation  of  schemes  of  this  sort  with  you,  during  the 
last  ten  years  or  so.  My  amazement  consists  in  this,  that 
whereas  I  am  accustomed  to  give  credit  to  those  who  reside 
on  your  soil  (referring  to  the  United  States)  for  having  a 
large  degree  of  sagacity,  yet  in  this  particular  matter  they 
appear  to  have  9hown  literally  none,  but  rather  to  have  put 
a  blind  faith  in  the  impossible  '* 

Dr.  Karl  Heym^  the  celebrated  German  mathematiciaii 
wrote  in  his  report,  made  at  the  request  of  Bismarck  (who 
favored  the  introduction  of  some  cheap  insurance  plan  for 
the  working  men),  as  follows  : 

"Unless  these  funds,  required  by  the  principles  of  life- 
insurance,  are  provided,  societies  of  this  class  do  far  more 
harm  than  good,  and  they  visit  the  sins  of  the  founders 
upon  generations  that  come  after  them." 

20.    The  leading  members  and  strongest  advocates  of 


50 

of  these  funds  is  an  imitation  of  the  Re-insuf- 
ance  Reserves  of  Insurance  Companies,  to  pro- 
vide for  a  time  when  no  new  business  can  be 


Co-operative,  or  rather  of  Assessment  insurance  without 
large  reserve  funds,  always  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  pro- 
viding for  a  Contingent  or  Reserve-fund,  to  insure  the  safety 
of  these  associations  in  case  of  excess  of  deaths  from  any 
cause. 

Fred,  H.  Waldron,  representing  the  Masonic  Mutual 
Benefit  Association  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  Recording 
Secretary  of  the  Mutual  Benefit  Associations' Convention, 
held  at  Washington,  D.  C,  in  iSyg,  said  in  his  essay,  full 
of  excellent  arguments  on  this  question : 

"I  must  confess  that  before  giving  this  subject  much 
serious  thought,  I  was  not  in  favor  of  accumulating  a  fund, 
but  the  more  I  studied  this  phase  of  these  Associations,  the 
more  1  became  convinced  that  a  reserve  fund  was  essential 
to  their  life  and  stability,  and  I  think,  during  the  experience 
of  our  Association,  that  we  will  find  a  surplus  necessary  in 
the  event  of  a  sudden  excess  of  death." 

And  at  the  close  of  his  arguments  he  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion that  for  such  Associations  (with  properly  graded 
assessments)  "All  that  is  required  is :  enough  to  meet  any 
contingency  in  case  of  an  excess  of  deaths  from  any  cause* 
I  should  advocate  the  accumulation  of  from  $15  to  $20  for 
each  member  on  the  rolls.  An  Association  of  2,000  mem- 
bers, with  a  surplus  of  from  $30,000  to  $40,000,  would,  in 
my   mind,  meet  the  contingency.'* 

And  the  Committee  of  that  Convention  of  Mutual  Benefit 
Associations,  consisting  of  the  Representatives  of  Assess- 


5^ 

obtained  by  them  any  more,  or  their  income 
should  fall  below  their  expenditures.  Our  En- 
dowment fund  cannot  and  should  not  be  com- 
ment Insurance  exclusively,  and  to  whom  the  subject  of 
**Endowment  Reserve  funds  '  was  referred,  reports  : 

**That  in  their  opinion  a  Reserve  or  Sinking  fund  is  im- 
peratively necessary  and  essential.  If  our  Associations  are 
to  guarantee  any  payment  in  the  future,  there  should  be  a 
foundation,  a  basis,  in  short,  a  fund  to  draw  from  in  hours 
of  distress,  epidemic,  or  any  other  emergency.  The  ques- 
tion of  cheap  insurance  can  only  receive  permanency  by 
having  a  reserve  fund. 

"We  therefore  recommend  that  each  Association  should 
hold  in  reserve  an  amount  equal  to  twenty  losses,  and  thus 
be  provided  for  any  contingency  that  may  arise." 

Since  that  time,  as  Assessment  Insurance  has  advanced 
in  experience  and  knowledge,  the  National  Convention  of 
Mutual  Benefit  Associations  has  made  it  a  condition  of 
membership,  and  a  standard  for  distinguishing  the  sound 
from  the  unsound,  the  honest  from  the  fraudulent  plan,  that 
it  must  have  * 'either  rates  increasing  with  the  advancing 
age  of  the  insured  or  a  fund  in  lieu  of  increasing  rates." 

The  problem  of  Life-insurance  without  large  reserve 
funds,  in  other  words,  of  eliminating  the  Savi^jigs  bank  ele- 
ment from  Life-insurance,  has  occupied  the  minds  of  the 
best  actuaries,  and  the  only  conclusion  to  which  they  came, 
or  could  come,  was,  that  it  is  impossible,  except  by  rates  in- 
creasing with  age.  How  this  would  work,  will  be  hereafter 
shown  in  thi^  study.  Here  only  reference  will  be  made  to  the 
words  oi^Sheppard  Homans,  one  of  the  first  actuaries  of  our 
times,  and  the  leading  advocate  of  Life  Insurance  without 


52 

pared  to  Insurance  Companies.  Our  Order  is 
in  itself  a  Mutual  Society  bound  together  by 
a  voluntary  contract,  whose  observance  is 
essential  to  membership  therein.  We  may 
declare  right  here,  with  a  sense  of  se- 
curity, that  the  existence  of  the  Order  is 
no  chimerical  idea,  but  is  secured  beyond  per- 
adventure.  Those  members  who  are  called 
away  into  the  Great  Grand  Lodge  above,  are 
replaced  by  younger  members,  who  thereby 
become  the  Reserve  fund  of  the  Endowment 
fund.  The  resources  of  our  Endowment  fund, 
looking  at  it  from  an  Insurance  standpoint,  are 
fifty  times  that  of  a  well  regulated  Life  Insur- 
ance Company.  Every  individual  member  of 
this  District  represents  a  Reserve-fund  of 
$i,ooo,  on  which  fund  you  can  draw  as  often 
as  the  case  may  require,  and  will  always  find  a 
response,  notwithstanding  panics  or  other 
financial  disturbances.  This,  with  a  member- 
ship of  1500,  would  give   us  a  Reserve  fund  of 

large  accumulations:  **A  Life  Insurance  Society,"  he 
says,  **must  be  compensated  each  year  for  the  insurance 
furnished,  for  expenses  of  management,  and  for  possible  ad- 
verse contingencies Beyond  this  a  reserve  or  deposit  is 

not  necessary,  and  is  not  always  desirable." 


53 

one  and  a  half  millions,  a  very  respectable  sum 
for  the  few  policies  (so  to  say)  issued." 

This  committee  proposed  that  the  rate  of  as- 
sessment be  reduced  to  the  "pro-rata  ratio  of 
the  whole  membership  to  the  sum  of  $i,ooo,  but 
shall  not  be  made  in  fractions  less  than  five 
cents,"  thus  leaving  almost  nothing  to  be  added 
to  the  sinking  fund.  It  further  recommended 
that  the  "  Sinking  Fund  "  be  changed  to  a  "  Re- 
serve fund,"  out  of  which  Endowments  shall  be 
paid  in  cases  of  emergency. 

Thus  some  shallow,  glittering  phrase,  flatter- 
ing to  a  popular  delusion,  will — for  a  short  time 
— defeat  the  voice  of  truth,  of  science,  and  of 
common-sense.  But  soon  the  agitation  rose 
again  ;  soon  the  voice  of  reason  was  again  heard. 
The  message  of  the  General  Committee  to  the 
Convention  of  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  6,  held 
January  2,  1877,  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  submitted 
the  following  timely  remark  :  "  If  we  concede 
that  within  a  period  of  forty  years  nine-tenths  of 
our  (surviving)  members  will  have  passed  their 
seventieth  year,  we  can  easily  conclude  that  in 
course  of  time  the  Endowment  assessments  must 
become  quite  heavy  and  burdensome."  And  the 
leport  of  the   Endowment  Committee  on  the 


54 

same  question  furnishes  further  testimony  as  to 
the  eagerness  felt  for  reconstructing  their  En- 
dowment plan  on  a  sounder  basis.^i  Accontpany- 
ing  that  report  was  a  resolution  :  "  That  the 
President  of  the  Grand  Lodge  appoint  a  com 
mission  of  five  members  of  the  Grand  Lodge, 
as  a  Committee  on  Endowment^  to  act  conjointly 
with  the  Board  of  Trustees,  which  commission 
is  charged  with  the  duty  of  organizing  for 
active  and  earnest  work  during  the  vacation,  to 
gather  statistics  and  report  to  this  convention 
such  details  as  will  perfect  our  present  Endow- 
ment Law."     This   commission  prepared   quite 


21.  A  few  brief  extracts  from  this  report  may  be  interest- 
ing:: 

*'In  the  original  discussion  on  the  establishment  of  this 
scheme,  many  prophecies  were  uttered,  which  have  since 
proven  to  be  correct.  It  was  then  emphasized  that  without 
a  strong  reserve  fund  the  scheme  was  a  delusion  5  but  we 
groped  our  way  in  the  dark,  uninstructed  through  our  own 
perverseness,  until  now  the  experience  of  the  past  teaches 
us  to  look  well  to  this  matter  and  organize  a  system  which 

will  be  a  blessing  to  those  who  helped  to  perfect  it...,, 

We  again  hear  the  pious  wish  of  increasing  the  Endowment, 
of  decreasing  the  Assessments;  and  the  air  is  full  of  the  dis- 
cussion, which  marks  the  discourse  between  the  eloquent 

insurance  solicitor  and  the  intended  victim Charity 

loses  none  of  its  virtue  because  it  uses  the  multiplication 
table,  and  studies  the  science  of  figures." 


55 

a  pamphlet,  containing  all  the  Endowment  Laws 
of  our  different  districts,  some  statistics,  a  re- 
print of  a  paper  by  the  author  of  this  study, 
published  in  1872  (and  used  it  without  consulting 
him  or  giving  him  an  opportunity  to  correct  or 
perfect  the  same  !),  besides  a  proposed  Endow- 
ment Law,  which  followed  the  main  features  of 
the  law  in  District  No*  2.  In  conclusion  of  its 
report,  the  Commission  said,  "We  trust  that  the 
plan  so  successfully  practiced  in  the  Second 
District,  will  be  aidopted  by  the  Grand  Lodge. 

The  adoption  of   this   plan  will    give  us  a 

permanent  Reserve  fund ,To  carry  on  the 

levying  of  small  assessments,  is  a  snare  on 
a  majority  of  the  members,  and  only  those 
would  reap  the  benefit  of  an  Endowment,  whose 
decease  would  occur  within  the  next  ten  or 
twenty  years.  If  we  wish  to  build  a  permanent 
Endowment,  let  us  build  wisely. 

There  might  have  been  a  chance  for  the  adop- 
tion of  the  plan,  had  not  this  pamphlet  first  been 
transmitted  for  discussion  to  the  Lodges,  where 
it  again  met  the  cant  of  deluded  brethren  in 
favor  of  the  popular  delusion,  the  senseless 
schemes  of  cheap  Life  Insurance,  (promulgated 
by  the  "  Protective  Life"  of  Chicago,  the  "Mutu- 


56 

al  Protection  Life"  of  Philadelphia  and  similar 
companies),  and  where  there  are  so  few  members 
who  understand  the  first  principles  of  this 
science.  And  still  there  might  have  been  a 
chance  for  its  adoption,  had  said  commission 
taken  a  firmer  stand  before  the  Convention,  had 
it  been  earnest  and  well  prepared  to  defend  the 
plan  it  recommended,  instead  of  bestowing  ful- 
some praise  on  the  author  of  this  plan  "who  for 
years  had  given  the  subject  his  best  thoughts" — 
and  whose  self-same  plan  they  lightly  aban- 
doned, yielding  to  propositions  to  which  they  had 
never  before  given  the  least  consideration. 

In  January,  1878,  at  the  Tenth  Annual  Con- 
vention of  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  6,  the  Re- 
port of  said  Endowment  Commission,  and  its 
supplementary  report — recommending  that  each 
Lodge  be  the  custodian  of  its  own  reserve  22  at 
only  three  per  cent,  interest — together  with  a 
large  number  of  other  propositions,  were  refer- 
red, as  usual,  to  an  Endowment  Committee, 
which  reported  as  follows  : 

"The  future  prosperity  and  welfare  of  our 


22.    The  working  of  this  method  will  be  shown  in  the 
progress  of  this  study. 


57 

District  demand  that  we  recognize  the  pro- 
tection which  this  system  offers — in  failure  of 
which    we    would     be    guilty     of     inexcusable 

selfishness   and   criminal  neglect A  solemn 

and  moral  obligation  presses  upon  us  to  main- 
tain that  indemnity.  In  view  of  these  con- 
siderations we  unhesitatingly  recommend  to 
this  Convention  the  adoption  of  the  declara- 
tion prefacing  the  proposed  law,  which  reads: 
'  The  Endowment  scheme  is  hereby  declared  an 
integral  part  of  ihe  Constitution  of  District 
Grand  Lodge  No.  6,  and  a  Reserve  fund  is  here- 
by declared  to  be  an  indispensable  part  of  the 
Endowment  scheme,  upon  whose  integrity,  in- 
crease and  constant  support,  the  existence  of  a 
permanent  Endowment  scheme  is  dependent.'  " 
And  yet  this  very  report  recommended  "the  adop. 
tion  of  sections  I,  2  and  3,  substituting  therein  an 
assessment  of  sixty  cents  instead  of  seventy-five 
cents,  and  |i2  instead  of  $15,"  thus  destroying 
the  very  basis  of  the  necessary  Reserve  fund. 
It  further  recommended  the  adoption  of  the 
proposition  which  places  the  Reserve  in  the 
custody  of  the  various  Lodges,  fixing  the  rate  of 
interest  at  three  per  centos 
23.     To  appreciate  the  difference  produced  by  the  rate 


58 

A  long,  excited  discussion  ensued.  Every 
motion  was  lost.  Finally  the  President  declared 
that  the  Convention's  test  vote  is  opposed  to  the 
change  of  the  present  law. 

It  would  exceed  the  scope  of  this  study,  and 
would  overtax  the  patience  of  the  reader,  to  fully 
review  the  discussions,  struggles  and  troubles 
about  our  Endowments  in  every  District24 — ex- 
cepting: 


of  interest  it  must  be  considered  thai  $i,  improved  at  com- 
pound interest,  ^\ill  amount  in  fifty  years,  at  three  per  cent., 
to  $4.38,  while  at  six  per  cent,  it  will  amount  to  $18.42. 

24.  Districts  No.  3  and  4  have  no  Endowment  Reserve 
fund  to  this  day  ;  District  No.  5  seemed  to  have  consider- 
able trouble  about  delinquent  Lodges,  and  some  agitation 
with  regard  to  abolishing  the  Reserve -fund  established  in 
1874,  and  held  by  and  under  the  control  of  each  Lodge. 
This  Endowment-sinking  fund  of  District  No.  5  was 
founded  on  a  basis  of  fifteen  cents  per  member,  paid  with 
each  assessment  to  the  Trustees  of  their  respective  Lodge, 
each  Lodge  having  control  of  its  own  accumulation,  and 
•'all  assessments  over  twenty  deaths  shall  be  paid  from  this 
fund. "  The  defects  of  this  plan  will  be  considered  with 
the  further  development  of  our  Endowment  institution  after 
the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1879.  District  No.  7, 
which  separated  from  its  mother,  eager  for  the  Endowment 
boon,  and  which  during  the  first  year  of  its  working  (in 


59 

District  No.  2.  Considering  that  the  En- 
dowment plan  of  this  District  was  the  only  one 
which  provided  for  the  accumulation  of  what 
the  other  Districts  considered — "a  large  Re- 
serve," and  for  assessments  amounting  to  $15 
annually,  which  were  deemed  "excessive  and 
oppressive" — an  examination  of  its  working  and 
progress  is  important. 

Inaugurated  in  1874,  after  long  and  violent 
opposition,  and  under  serious  difficulties,  its  suc- 
cess was  doubted  at  first,  but  the  opposition  was 
checked,  the  difficulties  overcome  ;  the  Law  was 
sustained  by  our  Court  of  Appeals  and  by  the 
civil  courts  ;  it  received  the  prompt  compliance 
of  ail  the  Lodges  of  the  District  and  the  cheer- 
ful support  of  the  members,  including  most  of 
its  former  opponents. 

In  January,  1875,  the  President,  in  his  Message 
to  the  first  annual  Grand  Lodge  meeting  after 
its  adoption,  remarks  :  '*The  unusually  large  at- 

1873)  experienced  fourteen  deaths  in  one  month  out  of  only 
853  members — preferred  to  increase  the  benefit  from  $1,000 
to  $1,500  rather  than  to  provide  for  such  emergencies  in  the 
future,  by  any  reserve -fund  except  the  initiation  fee  of  $2.00 
from  each  member,  which  amount  does  certainly  not  de- 
serve that  name. 


6o 

tendance  at  said  special  meeting  (held  at  Cincin- 
nati, March  i,  1874)  fully  illustrated  the  intense 
interest  of  the  District  in  the  important  legisla- 
tion about  to  take  place.  The  Endowment  Law 
passed  at  said  meeting  is  undoubtedly  the  best 
and  perhaps  the  only  safe  Endowment  Law  of 
any  now  in  existence  in  the  various  Districts  of 
our  Order/' 

In  January,  1876,  the  President  of  the  District 
Grand  Lodge — an  able  opponent  of  the  Endow- 
ment system  and  to  the  amassing  of  large  funds 
in  benevolent  associations — reports  that  "the 
Endowment  seems  to  be  giving  general  satisfac- 
tion throughout  the  district."  The  committee, 
to  whom  the  second  annual  report  of  the  En- 
dowment-fund was  referred,  unanimously  re- 
ported: "We  take  great  pleasure  in  congratulat- 
ing the  District  Grand  Lodge  upon  the  success- 
ful operation  of  the  Endowment  Law,  and  are 
pleased  to  note  that  every  Lodge  in  the  District 
cheerfully  complies  with  the  enforcement  of  the 
Law." 

In  January,  1877,  the  President's  Message 
says :  "  The  Endowment  continues  to  give 
general  satisfaction,  and  to  fulfil  the  object  for 
which  it  was  originally  intended."     And  the  un- 


animous  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Third 
Annual  Report  of  Endowment  fund  Trustees, 
says  :  **The  smooth  and  effective  workings  of 
the  law  during  the  past  year  affords  ample  mat- 
ter for  congratulation.  The  sympathetic  co- 
operation of  the  Lodges,  manifested  by  the 
marked  promptness  in  their  duties,  evidences 
not  only  the  popularity  of  the  Law,  and  the 
effectiveness  of  its  charity,  but  that  the  little 
opposition,  which  still  survives  among  a  few  un- 
fortunate members,  is,  if  not  purely  factious,  at 
least  undeserving  the  attention  of  this  Grand 
Grand  Lodge  other  than  what  is  due  to  it  out  of 
respect  for  the  courts  of  law  of  our  country.  We 
agree  with  the  Trustees  in  their  suggestion  "that 
no  change  of  the  plan  and  system  of  our  Endow- 
ment-fund is  desired  or  advisable."  "We  feel 
satisfied  that  the  present  law  is  about  as  free 
from  imperfections  as  any  probable  amendments 
could  possibly  make  it.  We  believe  that  if  we, 
this  year,  *let  well  enough  alone/  we  shall  cer^ 
tainly  be  guilty  of  a  wisdom  which  will  not  only 
be  appreciated  by  our  constituents,  but  which 
will  also  afford  a  bright  example  to  our  own 
members  and  our  successsors." 

In   January    1878,   the  President,  in    his    an- 


62 

nual  message,  said:  "Lodges  have  promptly  and 
cheerfully  complied  with  the  provisions  of  the 
Endowment  Law,  and  its  working  has  developed 
the  wisdom  of  its  plan  in  establishing  and  main- 
taining a  reserve-fund  based  upon  correct  prin- 
ciples   Mathematical    truths    cannot    be 

controlled  by  our  wishes,  endowments  must  be 
received  before  they  are  paid  out,  though  the 
advocates  of  many  plans  seek  to  evade  the  axiom 
by  pretensions  of  *cheap  insurance' While  ob- 
jections are  frequently  raised  to  the  formation  of  a 
large  reserve  fund,  they  are  answered  by  its  ne- 
cessity. Provision  must  be  made  for  the  naturally 
increasing  rate  of  future  mortality,  if  we  would 
not  witness  all  the  benefits  absorbed  by  mem- 
bers dying  at  an  early  period,  and  none  remain 
for  those  dying  later."  The  Committee  on  the 
Endowment  Trustees'  Report,  (the  fourth  year) 
again  unanimously  expressed  "congratulation 
for  the  smooth  and  effective  working  last  year/' 
Nevertheless  a  majority  of  that  committee  de- 
sired the  repeal  of  Section  17  of  that  Law,  refer- 
ring to  the  mode  of  amending  the  same. 


25.     One  of  the  great  bulwarks  of  this  Endowment  Law 
is  this  Section  17,  which  provides  that  all  proposed  amend- 


63 

In  January  1879,  ^^^  President  speaks  in  his 
Message  of  the  prosperity  of  the  District  in 
general  only;  but  the  Committee  to  whom  was 
referred  the  fifth  annual  report  of  the  Endow- 
ment Fund  Trustees,  unanimously  agreed  that 
. ..."  it  would  be  folly  to  permit  or  to  advise  any 
material  changes  in  our  Endowment  Law,  after 
having  seen  the  proof  of  the  excellence  of  the 
system  and  method  adopted  in  District  No.  2, 
and  we  recomtnend  to  this  Grand  Lodge  to  let 
well  enough  alone,  and  to  entertain  no  propo- 
sition tending  to  disturb    the  peaceful   opera- 


ments  must  be  referred,  first  to  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and, 
if  recommended  by  a  majority  of  its  members,  shall  then 
be  submitted  to  the  Grand  Lodge  for  its  action.  This  pro- 
vision, which  precluded  even  the  discussion  of  all  unsound 
and  unwise  charges,  was  persistently  attacked  during  the 
first  years  of  its  action,  but  the  firmness  of  the  framers  of 
this  Endowment  law,  the  general  satisfaction  which  it  gave, 
the  confidence  in  the  Board  of  Trustees,  successfully  de- 
feated every  attempt  to  repeal  or  modify  this  provision. 
One  member  of  the  above-mentioned  committee  made  a 
minority  report  with  regard  to  this  matter  of  repealing  sec- 
tion 17,  saying  :  "I  deem  the  recommendation  (to  repeal 
Section  17)  unwise  and  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
institution  ; "  and  this  minority  report  was  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  forty-one  against  twenty 


64 

tions  of  this  well  matured  law The  re- 
markably small  percentage  of  lapses  is  no  less 
a  subject  for  gratification,  and  speaks  volumes 
in  favor  of  our  system  as  compared  with  those 
charitable  societies  that  rejuvenate  their  member 
ship  by  crowding  out  the  older  members  and 
soliciting  the  young." 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  foregoing  quota- 
tions are  not  from  the  reports  of  the  Endowment 
Fund  Trustees,  who  might  be  supposed  to  pre- 
sent the  condition  and  working  of  the  institution 
under  their  charge  in  a  too  favorable  light. 
They  are  the  unbiassed  official  expressions  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  Presidents  and  Committees 
that,  in  this  District,  were  changed  every  year. 

Figures  and  facts  may,  however,  give  another 
proof  of  the  successful  working  of  the  Endow- 
ment Law  of  District  No.  2. 

During  the  quinquennial  period,  now  under 
review — namely,  from  the  General  Convention 
of  our  Order  in  1874  to  that  in  1879 — the  in- 
crease in  membership  in  District  No.  2,  though 
much  less  than  that  in  the  younger  Districts, 
though  less  attractive  to  that  element  which 
might  have  joined  for  the  sake  of  cheap  insur- 
ance only,  was   fully   equal  to   the  increase    in 


65 

District  No,  i  (23  per  cent.),  and  larger  than 
that  in  District  No.  3,  whose  members  pay  no  tax 
for  a  reserve  fund. 

The  annual  lapses  in  District  No.  2  (ij^  to  2 
per  cent.)  were  less  than  before  the  adoption  of 
the  Endowment  Law,  by  far  less  than  in  other 
fraternal  organizations,  and  not  above  the  rate 
of  lapses  in  other  districts  of  our  Order.  This 
clearly  proves  that  a  taxation  necessary  to  the 
safety  and  perpetuity  of  our  Endowments  is 
neither  detrimental  to  the  increase  in  member- 
ship nor  does  it  cause  members  to  withdraw;  on 
the  contrary,  it  produces  confidence^  a  powerful 
magnet.  And  "the  poor  men'*  are  those  who 
complain  least  about  paying  at  the  rate  of  five 
cents  per  day  to  secure  the  Endowment  to  their 
family. 

The  rate  of  mortality  in  District  No.  2  was 
greater  than  either  in  District  No^  i^  or  No.  6, 
especially  in  the  years  1876  and  1878,  when  it 
reached  fully  one  per  cent.  In  District  No.  i 
this  per  centage  was  reached  for  the  first  time  in 
1879.  During  those  two  years  ten  endowments 
($10,000)  were  paid  out  of  the  reserve  funds 
of  District  No.  2  ;  so  far  none  were  paid  out  of 
he  reserve  funds  of  the  other  districts.     Never- 


66 

theless,  at  the  end  of  i878(  the  fifth  year) [the  re- 
serve fund  of  District  No.  2  amounted  to  $55,- 
794,  or  over  $20  per  member,  while  in  District 
No.  I  at  the  same  time  it  amounted  to  $44,757, 
or  but  little  over  $5.00  per  member. 26 

As  for  the  safety  of  these  accumulations,  the 
following  pithy  remark  in  the  sixth  annual  re- 
port may  answer :  "The  best  evidence  of  the 
excellent  condition  of  our  Reserve-fund  is  the 
prompt  payment  of  interest  at  maturity,  and  that 
even  those  few  investments  on  Real  Estate 
Mortgage,  which,  by  circumstances,  had  to  be 
foreclosed,  brought  more  than  our  claim  from 
principal,  interest  and  costs.  Not  one  is  in  arrears. 
The  Treasurer's  report  gives  the  investments 
in  detail  with  names  of  the  parties'  mortgages, 
and  the  investigating  committee  may  easily  in- 
form itself  as  to  the  value  of  the  securities." 
And  as  to  the  cost  of  management^  the  same  re- 
port shows  that  "all  this  has  been   accomplished 

26.  In  the  excellent  articles  on  **  The  Problem  of  the 
Orders'  by  Fraternal  (American  Hebrew— Vol.  19)  it 
was  shown  that  on  Jan.  I,  1884,  the  Reserve-fund  of  Dis- 
trict No.  2  represented  four  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the 
amount  assured,  whilst  that  of  District  No,  i  represented 
only  one  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  that  £unount. 


67 

without  disputes  or  complications,  at  the  merely 
nominal  expense  of  ^^  cents  per  year  for  each 
;f  i,ooo  insured.  Not  a  single  Lodge  is  in  ar- 
rears; not  a  single  appeal  is  brought;  not  a  mur- 
mur of  discontent  or  suspicion  is  heard  ;  confi- 
dence in  the  management  and  permanence  of 
our  Endowment-fund  is  almost  unanimously 
expressed." 

The  fears,  often  expressed  by  the  opponents 
of  a  Reserve  fund  plan,  have  been  silenced  in 
this  district,  and  are  no  less  unfounded  in  every 
other  district  of  our  Order.  The  very  men  who 
would  distrust  the  chosen  trustees  of  their  own 
brethren,  insure  with  companies  holding  millions 
of  such  trust-funds,  and  of  whose  managers  they 
know  nothing  whatever.  Proper  control  and 
checks  should,  of   course,  be  established  ;  27  but 

27.  The  Trustees  of  the  Endowment-fund  of  District 
No.  2  have  themselves  made  this  remark  in  one  of  their  re- 
ports :**  The  growing  magnitude  of  your  fund  demands,  and 
your  Board  of  Trustees  desires  and  invites  the  closest 
scrutiny  of  their  doings  and  accounts.  Committees  gener- 
ally examine  but  hastily  and  superficially.  But  our  Endow- 
ment fund  system,  with  its  uniform  assessments  and  bene- 
fits, is  so  simple,  and  our  Secretaries  tables  are  so  well 
arranged,  that  each  Lodge  can  examine  for  itself  and  verify 
our  report." 


68 

these  are  provided  for  in  every  Endowment-law, 
however  defective  it  may  otherwise  be,  and  none 
of  our  Districts  have  ever  had  cause  to  complain 
of  any  default  of  its  managers  ;  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  have  passed  through  their 
hands,  and  not  a  cent  has  been  lost.  The  same 
may  also  be  said  of  the  trustees  of  our  sister 
organizations,  with  one  single  exception,  and 
there  the  loss  was  small ;  the  sureties  made  good 
the  deficiency  as  far  as  they  were  liable,  and  in 
that  single  exceptional  case  the  proverb  might, 
perhaps,  be  applied  :  "Like  master,  like  man/' 

Another  fact,  indicating  the  successful  work- 
ing of  the  Endowment-plan  of  District  No.  2, 
and  the  satisfaction  with  its  management,  was 
the  re-election,  with  nearly  every  year,  of  those 
members  of  its  Board  of  Trustees,  whose  term 
had  expired, 28 

28.  In  1879  the  author  of  this  study,  whose  term  as 
Trustee  then  expired,  assured  the  Grand  Lodge  that  he 
preferred  the  election  of  some  one  else  in  his  place  ;  were  it 
only  to  assure  themselves  that  the  satisfactory  and  pros- 
perous condition  of  their  Endowment-fund  would  not  be 
endangered,  nor  the  continuance  thereof  interrupted  by  any 
change  of  its  managers,  so  long  as  its  present  system  was 
$trictly  adhered  to,  and  the  sound  principles  on  which  it 


69 

But  although  the  excellence  of  the  plan  and 
method,  adopted  in  District  No.  2,  had  been 
commended  by  its  own  Grand  Lodge,  as  well  a«^ 
by  those  of  other  Districts,  these  facts  were  but 
little  known  to  the  Lodges.  Consequently  it 
also  was  of  but  little  avail  that  the  Executive 
Committee,  in  its  report  for  1878,  published  a 
treatise  on  the  subject  of  ^'Fraternal  Insurance,'' 
which  fully  explained  the  questions  involved,  and 
the  calculations  for  a  proper  Reserve,  required 
under  various  circumstances  as  to  rate  of  interest 
and  age  of  members. 

Unfortunately  our  Order  has  no  organ  where- 
by such  information,  in  popular  form  and  small 
doses,  could  be  brought  home  to  large  numbers 


was  based  would  be  observed.  But  the  Committee  on  En- 
dowments unanimously  reported  as  follows:  "There  is  a 
provision,  not  incorporated  in  our  statutes,  but  written  in 
the  heart  of  every  brother  of  our  District,  which  has  made 
Bro.  Isidor  Bush  the  Abuo  ben  Adhem  of  this  District — an 
officer  for  life  of  the  institution — which  by  his  energy  and 
foresight,  his  patience  and  perseverance,  has  been  devised, 
established  and  continued  upon  a  sound  basis."  And  this 
was  demonstrated  to  be  the  unanimous  feeling  of  the  Grand 
Lodge,  in  so  touching  and  enthusiastic  a  manner  that  he 
feels  in  duty  bound  to  serve  the  cause  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  as  long  as  his  strenofth  will  permit. 


70 

of  its  members.  Thus  the  greater  majority  of 
our  brethren  in  blissful  ignorance  continued  to 
be  pleased  with  the  working  of  their  (cheap) 
Endowment-plans,  or,  at  most,  lamented  the  in- 
creased mortality  experienced  from  year  to  year* 
And  though  they  gradually  began  to  see  that,  to 
secure  the  stability  of  the  Endowment  system, 
to  save  it  from  the  calamity  of  failure,  or  its 
proving  a  fraud,  some  better  plan  would  have 
to  be  resorted  to— there  was  then,  as  yet,  very 
little  prospect  for  its  general  adoption 

The  Constitution  Grand  Lodge  of  our  Order 
held  its  third  quinquennial  General  Convention  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  January  26th,  1879, 
and  remained  in  session  five  full  days.  Its  work 
was  of  an  important  character,  and,  considering 
the  unwieldy  body,  much  was  accomplished.  But 
it  did  nothing  to  solve  the  problem  of  ^^Our  En- 
dowments^' nothing  "to  give  stability  and  perma- 
nence to  this  mode  of  supporting  the  widows  and 
orphans  of  our  deceased  brethren." 

The  President,  in  his  message  to  the  Conven- 
tion, declared  this  the  all-important  point  to  be 
kept  in  view.  He  hoped  that,  having  called  at- 
tention to  the  needed  modifications,  and  the 
District  Grand  Lodges  having  full  power  to  en- 


71 

act  such  laws,  they  would  *'be  encouraged  to 
strengthen  their  several  Endowment  plans  by 
wise  legislation,  to  make  them  permanently 
successful,  so  as  to  keep  faith  with  the  promises 
and  expectations  held  out  to  their  members." 

The  Lodges  of  San  Francisco,  District  No.  4, 
transmitted  a  memorial  through  their  delegates^ 
wherein  they  said  that  at  the  last  Constitutional 
Convention  (in  1874)  an  effort  to  establish  a 
"  General  Endowment"  system  was  fortunately 
frustrated;  and  fearing  that  the  advocates  of  the 
"injudicious  measure"  might  renew  their  attempt 
in  that  direction,  they  therefore  petitioned  the 
Convention  to  refrain  from  the  passage  of  any 
law  altering  the  present  status  of  the  Endow- 
ment system. 

Resolutions  adopted  by  Lodges  of  other  Dis- 
tricts, protesting  against  any  changes  of  their 
Endowment  Laws,  were  also  submitted,  and 
many  representatives  were  instructed  by  their 
Lodges,  among  them  even  Mount  Sinai  No.  270, 
the  largest  Lodge  in  our  Order,  "to  oppose  a 
national  Endowment  Law"  and  to  leave  each 
District  to  work  out  its  own  destiny. «9     District 

29.    As  per  printed  Reports  to  Excelsior  Lodge  No.  170, 


72 

Grand  Lodge  No.  7  was  the  only  one  that  pre- 
sented a  memorial  in  favor  of  a  General  Endow- 
ment plan.  This  plan  was  accompanied  by  a 
proposed  law  which  assumed  to  secure  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  to  the  widow,  orphans  or  other 
beneficiaries  of  every  member,  by  assessments  of 
;?i.oo,  to  be  repeated  as  often  as  the  fund  would 
have  been  reduced  to  such  an  amount  as  to  pre- 
clude paying  the  next  death-claiiu.  No  provi- 
sion whatever  was  herein  made  for  a  reserve- 
fund  to  meet  either  a  possible  excess  of  deaths 
by  epidemicsso  or  other  calamity,  or  for  the 
certain  increase  of  mortality  in  future  yt  ars. 

It  was  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  the  En- 
dowment Committee  of  that  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge,  far  from  cherishing  any  desire  to  renew 
its  misjudged  attempts  of  the  preceding  Conven- 
tion (in  1874)  reported  as  it  did  ;  namely :  "That 
we  deem  it  against  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of 
the  fraternity  and  of  the  various  Districts,  as  well 
as  inexpedient  at  this  time^  to  enact  a  general 
Endowment  Law." 


and  to  Mount  Sinai  Lodge  No.  270,   by  their  respective 
delegates, 

30.    And    this    District  had     lost    sixty-one    members 


73 

**We  do  most  earnestly  recommend,  however, 
that  the  various  Districts  endeavor  to  improve 
their  laws — as  recommended  in  his  report  by  the 
worthy  President  of  the  Executive  Committee 
to  this  Constitution  Grand  Lodge — "keeping 
constantly  in  view  the  all  important  point  to  give 
stability  and  permanence  to  this  mode  of  sup- 
porting the  widows  and  orphans  ot  our  deceased 
brethren,  and  to  keep  faith  with  all  our  mem- 
bers." 

"This  cannot  be  done  without  either  accumu- 
lating an  adequate  Reserve-fund,  or  raising  each 
member's  contributions  as  he  arrives  at  ages  in 
which  the  rate  of  mortality  naturally  increases.  3, 

through  yellow  fever,  and  that  during  a  few  weeks  (August- 
October)  of  the  year  then  (1878)  just  closed. 

31.  A  proposition  * 'that  assessments,  wherewith  to  pay 
the  Endowment  benefits  to  widows  and  orphans  upon  the 
decease  of  a  member,  shall  be  levied,  varying  in  accordance 
with  the  age  of  each  member  at  the  time  of  joining  the  Order," 
was  submitted  to  the  General  Committee  of  D.  G.  L,  No.  i, 
but  was  not  considered  **  as  the  General  Convention  might 
take  this  matter  in  considetation.**  But  this  matter  has  been 
carefully  considered  by  the  ablest  advocates  of  Assessment- 
insurance.  These  have  soon  recognized  the  weakness  and 
unfairness  of  plans  which  charged  young  and  old  with  the 
same  amounts  at  each  assessment — while   the   principles  of 


74 
And  as  the  latter  method  would  become  very 
burdensome  to  our  older  members  and   cause 
many  of  them  to  withdraw,  we  recommend,  as  a 

equity  required  that  members,  during  the  probable  life  of 
each,  should  pay  like  sums  for  like  benefits.  If  a  member, 
who  is  twenty-eight  years  old,  and  has  an  expectancy  of 
thirty  six  years,  pays  assessments  of  $i.oo  at  each  death, 
another  member,  who  is  thirty-eight  years  old,  having  an 
expectancy  of  not  quite  twenty-nine  years,  should  pay  $1.25, 
and  a  member,  fifty-three  years  of  age,  who  has  an  ex- 
pectancy of  eighteen  years,  should  evidently  pay  $2.00  on 
each  assessment.  Hence  many  Mutual  Benefit  Associations 
have  graded  assessments  according  to  expectancy  at  the  age 
of  joining.  But  they  are  mistaken  in  considering  this  plan 
safe  without  proper  reserve  fund.  These  rates  of  assess  - 
ments,  though  very  fair,  and  not  burdensome  in  the  begin 
ning,  greatly  increase  in  number,  as  the  moitality  increases 
with  the  advancing  age  of  the  old  members,  and  new  mem- 
bers will  not  join.  Why  should  they  burden  themselves 
with  the  extra  deaths  occurring  among  those  who  have  long 
been  members  ?  That  the  latter  have  been  paying  into  the 
institution  for  many  years,  have  already  paid  a  large  amount 
into  its  treasury,  and  have  taken  out  nothing,  is  of  no  bene- 
fit to  future  members — since  it  has  all  been  paid  out  again 
for  death-claims,  and  nothing  reserved  to  offset  the  increas- 
ing liabiHties  arising  from  the  advancing  age  of  members. 
Furthermore,  rates  graded  according  to  age  at  the  time  of 
admission,  and  remaining  unchanged  thereafter,  must  soon 
result  in  unequal  assessments  on  members  of  equal  age.  A 
member,  for  instance,  whose  age  at  joining  is  twenty-eight, 


75 

NECESSITY,  the  establishment  of  adequate  Re- 
serve-funds, properly  invested  and  guarded, 
sufficient  to  provide  with  equal  justice  for  all  our 

would  in  ten  years  (when  thirty-eight  years  old)  still  pay 
only  $  I.  CO  Assessments,  whilst  one  of  the  same  age  (thirty- 
eight),  who  may  then  desire  to  join,  would  be  charged  $1.25. 
He  would  protest;  he  would  say:  *'It  is  unjust  that  I 
should  pay  more  than  another  of  the  same  age ;  that  this 
other  entered  ten  years  back,  makes  him  no  better  risk  ;  on 
the  contrary,  his  health  may  be  impaired  j  for  what  he  paid, 
he  had  his  equivalent,  his  insurance  all  the  time  j  he  paid 
nothing  for  me  or  for  my  benefit ;  aye,  he  would  have  to 
continue  paying  over  seventy  years  longer  at  the  same  rate, 
if  he  lived  that  long,  to  pay  enough  for  his  own  benefit/* 
Nor  is  the  system  of  rates,  graded  according  to  age  of 
entry,  as  equitable  as  some  suppose.  Out  of  1,000  men 
aged  twenty-one  to  thirty,  there  will  occur  after  ten  years 
(when  their  ages  will  be  between  thirty-one  to  forty)  about 
one  death  more  annually  than  during  the  preceding  decade, 
while  among  men  aged  forty-five  at  entry,  the  mortality  will 
increase,  in  ten  years,  at  the  rate  of  about  one  out  of  100 
members,  and  then  continue  rapidly  increasing.  Thus  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  number  of  assessments  is  chiefly  in- 
creased by  the  rapid  growth  of  the  death-rate  among  the 
old  men.  But  as  all,  young  as  well  as  old,  must  contribute 
for  each  death,  the  system  is  not  quite  equitable  ;  and,  under 
it,  new,  young  members  would  certainly  not  join,  if  they 
understood  that  they  must  share  in  paying  for  the  greater 
increase  in  the  death-rate  of  the  old  members. 


76 

members,  and  guarding  against  their  contribu- 
tions ever  becoming  too  burdensome  by  an 
excessive  mortality,  either  from  epidemics  or 
through  the  natural  decline  of  life  in  future 
years."  etc. 

4s  4c  ii<  :f:  4c  He  ^ 

"Nevertheless  your  committee  does  not  re- 
commend that  this  Constitution  Grand  Lodge 
exercise  its  supreme  legislative  power  in  prescrib- 
ing limits  of  benefit  or  other  rules  to  the  various 
Districts  on  the  subject  of  Endowments,  hoping 
that  the  Grand  Lodge  may  enact  such  wise  laws 
for  the  protection  of  the  widows  and  orphans  as 
will  conduce  to  the  welfare  of  their  sections. 
But  we  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  the  con- 
Recognizing  these  defects  the  National  Convention  of 
Mutual  Benefit  Associations  has  adopted  the  rule  that  **If 
the  mortality  rates  do  not  increase  with  age,  after  entry,  the 
rates  at  entry  must  be  loaded  twenty-five  per  cent.,  at 
five  per  cent,  per  annum,  compound  interest,  and  such  load- 
ing with  interest  must  be  held  as  a  liability  or  reserve." 
(The  Chicago  Guaranty  Fund  Life  Society,  which  works 
under  this  system,  provides  for  a  guaranty  fund  of  one  mil- 
lion dollars,  and  besides  for  a  reserve-fund  raised  from  a 
large  percentage  deducted  from  the  benefits  of  those  mem- 
bers who  die  during  the  first  five  years  of  their  member  - 
ship 


77 

viction  that  a  more  correct  and  more  uniform 
system  and  method  in  the  several  Endowment 
plans  of  all  the  Districts  is  very  desirable,  and 
would  promote  the  best  interests  of  the  members 
and  the  strength  and  beauty  of  our  Order." 

Three  members  of  said  Endowment  Com- 
mittee made  a  minority  report,  stating  that  in 
their  judgment  the  only  secure  basis  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Endowment  was  to  make  it  general. 
But  "  being  aware  that  a  majority  of  this  Con- 
vention was  opposed  to  any  change,  they 
deemed  it  a  useless  waste  of  time  to  present  any 
plan  for  consideration." 

The  Convention  adopted  the  report  of  the 
majority  of  the  committee. 

With  this  decision  of  the  Convention,  to  let 
each  District  work  out  its  own  destiny,  a  new 
period  in  the  history  of  our  Widow  and  Orphans 
Endowments  began.  A  period,  alas  !  of  strug- 
gles, more  violent,  but  no  less  futile,  all  awakened 
by  proposed  changes  in  the  Endowment  laws  of 
the  various  Districts  ;  struggles  between  those 
who  desired  to  secure  the  system  from  failure 
with  its  fatal  consequences,  and  those  who 
desired  the  greatest  benefits  for  the  smallest 
contributions;  between  those  who  wanted  insur- 


78 

ance  which  assures,  and  those  who  want  it  for 
half  cost,  or  less ;  between  the  young  lodges  who 
figured  how  much  they  had  already  paid  for  the 
benefit  of  the  old  lodges,32  and   for  this  reason 

32.  In  the  valuable  articles  on  **The  Problem  of  the 
Order/'  by  Frateknal  (in  the  American  Hebrew)  it  was 
shown  that  the  **six  of  the  old  Lodges  of  District  No.  i 
already  received  (up  to  1884)  nearly  $117,000  more  in 
Endowments  paid  to  their  members  than  they  paid  to  the 
fund — while  nine  of  the  younger  Lodges  paid  nearly  $85,000 
more  than  they  received — which  will  also  soon  be  eaten  up 
by  the  older  Lodges.  How  long  can  such  a  condition  of 
affairs  last?" 

Compare  with  this  the  condition  of  affairs  in  District  No, 
2.  There  also  during  the  eleven  years,  from  1874  to  1885, 
notwithstanding  that  the  annual  contribution  of  every  mem- 
ber has  been  $15,  six  of  the  old  Lodges  have  received 
$18,900  more  in  Endowments  paid  to  their  members  than 
these  Lodges  paid  to  the  fund.  But  the  interest  accumu  • 
lated  during  the  same  time  amounts  to  $535583.30,  or  nearly 
three  times  the  excess  paid  for  Endowments  of  members  of 
these  old  Lodges.  And  not  one  cent  had  to  be  taken  from 
the  surplus  of  the  younger  Lodges  who  have  paid  in  $150,- 
000  more  than  thay  have  received,  but  whose  reserve  fund 
now  amounts  to  over  $170,000  for  only  3070  members. 
Had  a  General  Endowment  plan,  based  on  the  same  prin- 
ciples, been  adopted  by  all  the  Districts  in  1874,  their  re- 
serve fund  would   now,  in   the  aggregate,  amount   to   over 


79 
meditate  secession,  and  the  old  lodges  who  did 
not  figure  or  meditat*?  at  all ;  between  those  who 
put  their  trust  in  a  strong  reserve  fund,  and  those 
who  trusted  to  nobody ;  between  those  who 
wished  to  secure  beyond  doubt  an  Endowment 
for  the  poor  brother's  widow  and  orphans,  and 
those  who  pretended  to  protect  "  the  poor  man  '* 
by  saving  him  from  paying  the  few  additional 
cents  which  would  be  required  for  that  purpose. 
Endless  discussions,  devoted  to  legislation 
upon  this  subject,  consumed  the  time  of  the 
District  Grand  Lodges  from  year  to  year,  and 
resulted — in  nothing.  Had  they  but  had  no 
result  whatever  !  But,  alas,  they  not  only  caused 
"  so  great  an  agitation,  in  most  of  the  Districts, 
as  to  overshadow  nearly  every  other  object  of 
the  Order,  and  threaten  to  seriously  interfere 
with  its  progress  and  prosperity,"  but  in  some 
Districts  they  resulted  in  making  the  Endowment 
plans  worse  than  they  already  were  ;  and  when 
one  Grand  Lodge  at  last  succeeded  in  passing  a 
better  Endowment  Law,  appeals,  on  the  ground 
of  some  technical   defects  in   the   mode   of  its 


$1,300,000,  for  our  25,000  members,  protecting  these,  and 
joining  young  members  from  an  oppressive  increase  of 
assessments  in  the  future. 


8o 

adoption,  again  defeated  it.  In  another  District 
quarrels  between  the  Grand  Lodge  and  some  of 
its  oldest  Lodges  led  to  the  dissolution  of  the 
latter  and  to  more  appeals  to  our  Court  of 
AppeaL 

All  this  naturally  led  to  great  dissatisfaction 
until  a  clamor  arose  against  the  Endowment 
system,  a  cry  to  make  it  optional,  or  even  do 
away  with  it  entirely.  The  members  who  raised 
this  clamor,  however,  seem  to  have  forgotten 
that  it  is  one  of  the  principles  and  first  duties  of 
our  Order  "to  provide  for,  protect  and  assist  the 
widow  and  orphan/'  They  did  not  consider 
hat  this  cannot  be  done  without  taxing  the 
members,  and  that  taxation  cannot  be  imposed 
without  equal  rights. 

A  review  of  these  struggles  and  troubles,  and 
— let  us  hope — of  their  permanent,  successful 
solution  by  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge,  which 
meets  next  week  (March  i,  1885),  shall  form  the 
third  part  of  this  study. 


Part  III,— A  Study  of  its  Plans:  their  Working, 
Defects,  and  the  Remedy. 


The  first  Grand  Lodge  meeting,  after  the  ad- 
journment of  the  General  Convention  of  1879, 
was  that  of  District  No.  7,  held  on  May  nth, 
1869,  at  Memphis,  Tenn.  In  his  message,  the 
President  (Bro.  Samuel  UUman).  reviewed  the 
history  of  the  past  year  with  its  terrible  affliction 
during  the  fall  months  of  1878— the  yellow  fever 
plague,  which  alone  took  sixty-two  of  our  beloved 
brethren  from  us,  casting  gloom  upon  the  hearth- 
stone of  so  many  families.  After  a  beautiful 
obituary  notice  of  the  departed  brethren  and  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  noble  acts  of  living 
heroes  of  the  plague,  and  of  the  brotherly  aid 
obtained  from  the  sister  districts  and  lodges  of 
our  Order,  which  helped  to  dispel  the  seeming 
impenetrable  gloom,  he  made  the  following  sug- 
gestions as  to  "Our  Endowments:*' 

"  Since  the  failure  of  the  adoption  of  a  uni- 
versal endowment  scheme  by  the  Constitution 
Grand  Lodge  for  the  Order  at  large,  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  certain  changes  in  the  law 


82  ' 

governing  the  same  will  be  necessary,  in  order 
that  the  object  may  be  maintained  for  which  it 
is  intended.  The  last  epidemic  has  demonstrated 
how  arduous  our  burdens  may  become,  how 
difficult  for  many  Lodges  to  discharge  the  solemn 
duty  towards  our  deceased  brethren.  I  woulc, 
therefore,  recommend  that  we  lower  our  benefit  to 
%iooo^  and  that  we  tax  our  members  at  the  rate  of 
%i,SO  per  months  to  be  collected  monthly  in  ad- 
vance by  the  secretary  of  each  lodge,  for  the 
payment  of  which  every  lodge  shall  be  made 
responsible." 

He  did  not  claim  to  be  a  learned  mathemati- 
cian— but  in  the  goodness  of  his  heart  and  in- 
spired by  an  honest  solicitude  '*  to  enable  the 
poor  brother  to  maintain  his  good  standing,  as 
well  as  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  our  Order," 
he  intuitively  recommended  the  best,  the  only 
correct  plan  for  the  future.  Then,  however,  fol- 
lowed the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  District, 
(Bro.  M.  Ulman)  proposing  another  plan.  He 
had  "  critically  examined  the  laws  and  workings 
of  130  organizations  of  like  nature,"  in  order  to 
find  a  remedy.  He  could  say  that  this  District 
had  grown  under  his  eye  and  partially  under  his 
guidance.     His  report  showed  the  entire  insuffi- 


83 

ciency  of  the  endowment  laws  of  the  District 
(which  had  also  been  made  and  adopted  under 
his  guidance)^  and  in  the  same  report  he  declared 
that,  had  these  laws  been  complied  with  by  him, 
no  benefits  whatever  could  have  been  paid,as  the 
District  was  bankrupt;  30  lodges  would  have  been 
forced  out  of  existence,  and  not  less  than  1,000 
members  been  suspended  for  non-payment,  or 
would  have  left  without  saying  "  with  your 
permission,"  but  that  he  had  saved  the  District 
and  redeemed  its  promises  by  altogether  ignoring 
its  laws  and  substituting  rules  of  his  own,  to  suit 
the  emergency. 

The  difficulties  he  had  to  contend  with  were 
enormous;  there  were  neither  funds  nor  was  there 
confidence.  He  procured  the  former  and  grad- 
ually re-established  the  latter,  paying  for  the 
death-claims  of  that  one  year  89  endowments  at 
$1500 — and  its  other  expenses,  the  large  sum  of 
;Jli34,ooo!  All  this  is  established  beyond  doubt 
or  dispute,  in  his  long  report,  and  the  prompt  and 
sagacious  action,  his  zeal  and  devotion,  received 
the  deserved  praise  of  the  endowment  committee 
and  of  every  lover  of  the  Order. 

Hence  any  plan  proposed  by  him  at  that  meet- 
ing, every  change  of  the  endowment  law  which 


84 

he  would  have  recommended,  would  have  been 
promptly  adopted;  a  more  favorable  moment  for 
the  introduction  of  a  sound  and  enduring  system 
could  not  have  been  chosen.  Had  he  fully  un- 
derstood the  subject,  had  he  been  willing  to  ac- 
cept good  authority  instead  of  examining  "  the 
laws  and  workings  of  130  associations  of  like  na- 
ture,'* and  disregarding  the  warnings  furnished 
by  his  own  Constitution  Grand  Lodge  ;  had  he 
but  been  willing  to  support  the  wise  suggestion 
of  his  President  of  District  No.  7;  it  would  now 
have  been  a  model  Widow  and  Orphan  Endow- 
ment institution,  with  a  large  Reserve  fund  to 
uphold  it.  But  he  was  not  in  favor  of  reducing 
the  benefit  from  $1500  to  $1000;  and  while  he  did 
ask  an  annual  contribution  of  $24,  or  taxation  at 
the  rate  of  $16  for  the  benefit  of  $1000,  that  being 
$1  more  than  was  charged  in  District  No.  2,  he 
did  not  know  or  did  not  want  to  know  that  the 
rate  of  mortality  and  of  interest  on  reserve  are 
the  all-important  factors.  This  contribution-rate 
of  $16  was  based  on  the  presumed  necessity  of 
providing  for  an  epidemic,  at  least  once  in  every 
six  years.  "What  has  occurred  will  occur  again," 
seemed  to  him  an  unchangeable  law  of  nature; 
and  as  96  per  mille  had  died  during  the  preced- 


85 

ing  six  years,  the  average  would  be  i6  deaths  out 
of  looo  in  any  one  year.  What  may  not  be 
needed  in  three  or  four  years  is  sure  to  be  need- 
ed in  the  fifth.'*^  If  that  were  true,  this  rate 
would  not  and  could  not  be  sufficient  for  the  ac- 
cumulation of  any  reserve  fund  to  provide  for 
the  additional  necessity  created  by  an  increasing 
mortality  due  to  the  advancing  age  of  its  mem- 
bers. 


I. — In  the  Proceedings  of  the  7th  Annual  Convention  of 
D.  G.  L  No.  7,  May,  i88q,  page  92,  this  is  repeated  more 
distinctly  still.  The  late  Endowment  Fund  Secretary  says 
in  his  report :  '*This  law  was  enacted  to  cover  a  decade  of 
six  years  ( !)  upon  the  basis  of  mortality  for  the  preceding 
six,  twelve  and  eighteen  years,  where  the  average  mortality 
has  invariably  been  sixteen  per  thousand.  ,  .  .  the  law 
of  average  is  based  upon  experience  that  what  has  occurred 
will  occur  again,  and  the  lapse  of  time  upon  previous  oc- 
casions mav  be  considered  as  the  lapse  of  time  tor  coming 
occasions." 

Understand  this,  whosoever  can  !  But  as  District  No.  7 
did  not  exist  longer  than  seven  years,  and  as  before  that 
time  its  lodges,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  No,  2,  had  no 
more  than  700  members,  those  statistics  are,  fortunately, 
only  imaginary  ones.  From  fall  of  1878  to  spring  of  1885, 
(now)  over  six  years  have  elapsed  without  epidemic  disease, 
and  we  hope  and  trust  that  (for  years  to  come)  none  may 
again  visit  the  South. 


86 

Fortunately,  it  is  not  true.  The  mortality  in 
the  Southern  States,  and  especially  among  their 
Israelites,  is  on  an  average  but  slightly  in  ad- 
vance of  that  among  men  of  the  same  ages  in  the 
North.  The  period  of  six  years,  from  1873  ^^ 
1878  inclusive,  during  which  the  yellow  fever 
scourged  that  territory  twice,  was  an  exceptional 
case,  and  probably  may  never  again  occur  in  so 
short  a  period.  Not  all  that  has  occurred  will 
occur  again  ;  laws  of  averages  are  not  deduced 
from  an  experience  of  a  few  years  or  a  small 
number  of  individuals. 

But  the  plan  and  the  endowment  law  adopted 
in  District  No.  7  was  very  defective  in  this  res- 
pect :  that  the  management  of  the  surplus,  pro- 
duced by  the  annual  contribution  of  $26  from 
each  member,  was  left  to  the  lodges,  each  keep- 
ing a  small  fractional  part,  and  the  investment 
thereof  was  restricted  to  U.  S.  Bonds  at  4  per 
cent.  Moreover,  this  contribution  was  too  large 
a  tax  for  many  members. 

In  1 88 1  the  President  of  the  District  already 
said  in  his  message  :  "  Different  causes  have  the 
past  year  prevented  the  required  accession,  and 
one  of  the  most  prominent  was  the  cry  of  heavy 
taxation.   Various  opinions  exist  as  to  the  advis- 


«7 

I  ability  of   reducing  the  benefit  from  $1,500  10 

$1,000  (the  same  as  existing  in  other  Districts), 
and  thereby  reducing  the  taxation  for  this  branch 
alone  s^}i  per  cent." 

In  the  E.  F.  secretary's  report  for  that  year  we 
find  that  the  reserve  amounted  to  $32,039,  of 
which  only  $15,900  were  invested  in  U.  S.  Bonds 
and  all  the  remainder  lay  idle  m  currency.^  In 
this  report  he  advises  the  accumulation  of  an 
adequate  reserve  fund,  admits  "that  no  organiz- 
ation, with  endowment  features  attached,  can 
exist  for  any  length  of  time  without  an  adequate 
reserve  ; "  and  yet  he  is  inconsistent  enough  to 
"recommend  that  the  dues  to  this  endowment 
(of  $1500)  be,  after  July  ist,  1881,  $5.25  per 
quarter  instead  of  $6.50,  as  they  are  now." 

During  that  year  the  District  had  decreased 
by  130  members  ;  the  decrease  was  generally 
attributed  to  the  heavy  taxation  ;  and  it  may  be 
possible,  wrote  the  said  secretary,  that  the  re- 
duction of  the  quarterly  endowment  dues  from 


2. — He  says :  **  Lodges  who  have  neglected  to  invest  as 
provided  by  law,  were  admonished  to  invest,  but — the  ad- 
monition remained  unheeded."  Later  developments  showed 
that  the  Lodges  did  not  have  the  currency,  either — had  ex- 
pended it  for  other  purposes  or  lost  it. 


88 

$6.5©  to  $5.25  will  have  the  desired  effect  (to  re- 
move the  dissatisfaction). 

And  what  did  the  Committee  on  Endowment 
report? 

*'  Recognizing  the  opposition  to  the  adoption 
of  their  (first)  report,3  and  being  fully  convinced 
that  it  would  be  unsafe  to  permanently  reduce 
the  present  endowment  assessment"  —  they 
yielded  to  the  pressure  for  its  reduction  for  one 


3. — The  first  report,  withdrawn  after  very  lengthy  dis- 
cussion, is  highly  interesting  from  an  historical  standpoint. 
The  limited  scope  of  this  study  admits  of  a  brief  extract 
only. 

The  report  asks  this  "  Most  Honorable  Body,"  the 
D.  G.L.,  not  to  be  too  hasty  in  condemning  what  may  seem 
contrary  to  preconceived  notions  and  an  unreasoning  public 
clamor.  The  committee  says:  "We  have  become  convinced 
that,  unless  the  endowment  be  relegated  to  a  secondary 
position,  the  gravest  results  may  be  expected  at  an  early 
day.  .  .  .  Unfortunately  the  endowment  feature  of  the 
Order  has  obtruded  itself  so  far  into  our  councils  and  has 
claimed  so  much  of  our  consideration,  that  we  have  in  a 
great  measure  lost  sight  of  everything  else.  It  is  an  axiom 
of  mechanics  that  * '  the  strength  of  anything  is  the  strength 
of  its  weakest  part, "  and  the  axiom  applies  with  full  force 
tons.  The  endowment — being  the  weakest  part  of  our 
structure,  the  whole  edifice  is  as  weak  as  it.  If  it  totters, 
we  fall.    To  remedy  this  evil  the  committee  recommended  : 


89 

year  to  $5.00  per  quarter,  and  recommended  that 
a  special  committee  of  seven  be  appointed  to  re- 
port to  the  next  annual  session  of  this  Grand 
Lodge  a  basis  for  the  endowment  that  would  ren- 
der it  as  economical  as  possibly  consistent  with 
safety  and  justice. 

This  report,  reducing  the  endowment  dues 
from  $6.50  to  $5  per  quarter  was,  of  course, 
adopted.  Thus  another  year  was  lost,  at  the  end 
of  which,  when  the  Grand  Lodge  met  again  (in 
May,  1882)  that  part  of  the  President's  Message 
which  concerned  the  endowment  said:  "  It  has, 
from  the  very  institution  of  the  District,  furnish- 
ed the  all-absorbing  topic  of  our  annual  meetings, 
and  yet  we  stand  to  day  as  insecure  as  in  1878, 
when  the  very  existence  of  the  District  was  en- 
dangered by  the   heavy  mortality  of  that  year/' 

*   *   *   *     u  ^g  experimenting  on  the  human 


I.  To  make  the  endowment  optional.  2.  To  employ  an 
efficient  insurance  actuary  to  determine  the  lowest  safe 
assessment  and  reserve  fund  with  which  we  can  continue 
our  present  benefit.  3.  When  such  calculation  is  com- 
pleted to  promulgate  to  the  Lodges  the  new  basis  arrived  at. 
And  a  number  of  other  points,  all  well  and  wisely  considered, 
to  place  the  endowment  under  a  separate  administration  and 
under  sound  financial  rules. 


9^ 

body  invariably  results  in  injury,  or  loss  of  life, 
so  will  experiments  with  our  Endowment  bring 
about  a  like  result — our  very  existence  will  be 
crippled  or  endangered.  The  report  of  the  Sec- 
retary from  July  i,  1881,  when  the  reduction  of 
the  assessment  went  into  operation  for  the  six 
months  ending  January  i,  1882,  shows  that  this 
experiment  has  already  resulted  in  a  deficit  of 
$4,376.25,  whilst  we  should  have  had  an  increase. 
At  the  same  rate,  a  continuance  of  the  experi- 
ment would  enable  the  endowment  to  last  just 
so  long  as  a  dollar  remains  in  the  Reserve — that 
is,  about  four  years." 

"  We  are  confronted  annually  by  improbable 
schemes  and  impossible  theories,  which  result  in 
the  hasty  enactment  of  laws  as  impracticable  in 
their  execution  as  they  are  dangerous  to  the  per- 
manency of  the  Endowments  It  is,  in  my  opin- 
ion, time  that  we  should  be  guided  by  experience 
and  discard  inexperience.*' 

*  *  *  *  "Do  not  let  us  promise  what  we 
cannot  accomplish,  but  let  us  establish  the  En- 
dowment upon  such  a  basis  as  will  render  it 
secure  now  and  for  all  time  to  come." 

To  arrive  at  such  a  basis, — both  the  President 
and  the  Committee  on  Endowment  commended 


9» 

a  work  on  Co-operative  Insurance  by  the  worthy 
Secretary  of  the  District  "  as  tending  to  com- 
pletely overthrow  the  popular  delusions  on  the 
subject."  Yet,  strange  to  relate,  the  said  com- 
mittee then  submitted  an  endowment  plan  of 
which  it  is  said  in  its  report  :4  "  It  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  the  safety  of  our  plan  that  our  ag- 
gregate membership  increase  at  the  rate  of  ten  to 
twelve  per  thousand  annually,  and  that  the  acces- 
sions, requisite  to  replace  our  losses  and  furnish 
this  increase,  be  of  younger  material." 

Evidently,  the  Committee  did  not  know  that 
an  insurance  plan  computed  with  a  view  to  ac- 
cession of  future  members,  is  both  unsound  and 
dishonest;  unsound,  as  no  permanently  contin- 
ued increase  of  membership  can  be  relied  upon, 
and  dishonest,  as  taking  from  future  younger 
members  an  amount  needed  for  the  deficiency  of 
the  old  members  is  not  much  better  than  stealing. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  after  the  epidemic  of 
Jan  ist,  1879,  the  membership  of  the  District  was 

4. — Report  of  Special  Committee  on  Endowment,  ap- 
pointed at  Vicksburg,  188 1,  submitted  and  referred  to  Com- 
mittee on  Endowment,  May  i8th,  1882,  for  codification, 
adopted  as  a  law  May  i6th,  1882. — Proceedings  ix.  Annual 
Convent'on,  D.  G.  L.  No.  7,  pp.  1 12-124. 


92 

2665,  and  on  Jan.  ist,  1882,  only  2380,  2l  decrease 
of  285  in  three  years — it  would  seem  incompre- 
hensible that  such  a  plan  should  be  called  safe, 
and  should  be  recommended  by  the  learned  Sec- 
retary who  himself  wrote  that  "  no  matter  how 
numerous  the  new  admissions,  they  will  not  ma- 
terially retard  the  gradual  increase  of  mortality, 
until  it  reaches  the  maximum,  and  in  proportion 
increases  the  taxation  until  //  reaches  the  maxi- 
mum, provided  the  organization  will  not  have 
collapsed  earlier." 

However,  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  En- 
dowment was  adopted;  the  sum  of  twenty -four 
dollars  was  established  as  the  annual  contribu- 
tion  from  every  member,  and  the  Grand  Lodge 
decided  to  submit  to  the  members  of  the  Lodges 
prior  to  next  annual  convention,  the  question  as 
to  the  amount  of  benefit,  whether  it  should  re- 
main $1500,  or  be  reduced  to  $1000. 

The  result  of  submitting  this  question  was, 
that  out  of  tne  2334  contributing  members  (a 
further  decrease  of  46  members  in  about  six 
months),  889  voted  for  $1,500  and  Z6  only  for 
$1,000  (1359  members  not  voting),  which  was 
quite  natural — especially  as  the  learned  Grand 
Secretary  assured   them  that  "  our  present  laws 


93 

contain  no  errors;  they  are  as  perfect  as  human 
heads  can  frame  them/*5  — [See  Proceedings  for 
1882,  page  24.] 

In  District  No  i,  the  agitation  of  the  En- 
dowment question — immediately  after  the  ad- 
journment of  the  B.  B.  Convention  held  in  Phil- 
adelphia in  January,  1879 — became  even  more 
intense  than  in  District  No.  7;  and  its  study  may 
be  found  interesting  and  especially  instructive  for 
the  future  solution  ^/this  problem  in  that  greater 
District  of  our  Order. 

Through  the  medium  of  the  press,  and  even  in 
public  medium  meetings,  serious  charges  and  un- 
friendly criticisms  were  freely  indulged  in.  The 
message  of  the  President  of  the  District  Grand 
Lodge  session  (Jan»  25th,  1880),  in  reviewing 
the  past  year,  speaks  of  its  condition  in  the  fol- 
lowing flowery  yet  energetic  terms:  "  It  is  my 
unpleasant  task,  in  placing  the  exact  condition  of 


5. — History  demands  the  truth  regardless  of  De  mortuis 
nil  nisi  bonum;  a  study  of  our  Widow  and  Orphan  Endow- 
ment cannot  forbear  to  disclose  the  grave  errors  which  pre- 
vented the  adoption  of  a  sound  system.  Grand  Secretary 
Ullman  is  gone  from  this  world  to  that  realm  where  our 
errors  are  forgiven,  especially  if  these  were  of  the  head  and 
not  of  the  heart. 


94 

the  District  before  you  to  state  frankly  and  un- 
reservedly, that  manifestations  of  disapproval 
have  been  loud  and  numerous,  to  the  extent  of 
engendering  such  feelings  of  hostility  among  the 
members,  as  to  create  an  antagonism  directly 
prejudicial  and  perilous  to  our  success  and  wel- 
fare. It  follows  then,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that 
we  are  at  a  standstill,  and  our  influential  position 
in  the  Order  on  account  of  this  internal  dissen- 
sion is  seriously  threatened.  By  patiently  mves- 
tigating  into  the  cause  for  this  condition  of 
things,  the  solution  at  once  becomes  patent.  An 
increased  mortality  over  previous  years^  centennial 
statue,  mileage  and  intellectual  assessments,  have 
imposed  somewhat  larger  payments  on  the  indi- 
vidual member,  and  thus  awakened  the  apparent 
dissatisfaction  existing," 

And  the  message  closes  with  the  remark  that 
''  The  District  ship  is  sailing  in  troubled  waters, 
and  the  waves,  fomented  by  dissension,  sweep 
over  her  with  resistless  force,  quivering  under  the 
repeated  attacks  of  the  rushing  waters  of  sel- 
fishness, as  they  pour  a  deluge  over  the  deck 
with  fiendish  delight,  and  gloat  over  the  puny 
efforts  of  a  crew,  disorganized  and  disunited, 
amidst  strife  and  discord,  while  destruction  seems 


95 

swift  and  certain.  The  danger  increases,  for  a 
great  storm  of  mistrust  and  want  of  confidence 
arises,  and  from  all  points  of  the  compass  comes 
the  furious  gale,  straining  every  timber  of  our 
noble  ship,  and  so,  tossed  about  from  wave  to 
wave,  a  long  line  of  breakers  appears,  relentlessly 
waiting  to  crush  and  annihilate  her." 

To  stem  this  torrent  of  dissension,  the  requi- 
site number  of  representatives  requested  (in  July, 
1879),  that  a  special  meeting  of  the  G.  L.  be 
called  for  certain  purposes,  naming  :  Firstly — 
to  consider  the  stability  of  the  Endowment  Fund, 
i.  e.,  to  ascertain  whether  the  same  can  be  fur- 
ther maintained  and  what  steps  are  necessary  to 
be  taken  for  that  purpose." 

In  accordance  with  that  application,  a  special 
meeting  of  D  G.  L.  No,  i  was  convened  on 
Oct  12th,  1879  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the 
subject  therein  mentioned,  foremost  among  them 
**  the  stability  of  the  Endowment  fund." 

The  President  had  "  collated  the  statistical 
facts  connected  therewith,  so  that  by  the  light  of 
the  experience  in  the  past,  we  can  safely  estimate 
our  need  of  the  present  and  provide  for  the  wants 
and  security  of  the  future." 

How  slightly  he  understood   the   subject  is 


96 

shown  by  his  remarks  thereon  saying:  "  We  learn 
from  these  facts  that  the  death  rate  of  the  Dis- 
trict for  ten  years  was  7  s/^^  per  cent,  or  an  av- 
erage of  about  f  of  I  per  cent  for  each  year,  and 
the  average  rate  for  that  period  on  each  death, 
18  cents;  that  514  deaths  occurred  with  a  cost  to 
each  member  of  $87  92,  averaging  nearly  $8  80 
annually,  besides  accumulating  a  "Surplus  Fund' 
of  $55,ooo*  And  it  has  been  ascertained  that 
the  average  age  of  the  membership  when  the  en- 
dowment system  went  into  effect,  remains  in 
about  the  same  ratio  to-day.  The  best  sources 
of  information  place  th^^  record  as  the  maintained 
average  of  deaths  in  every  decade,  provided,  of 
course,  that  there  is  an  infusion  of  new  life  by  the 
accession  of  members,  which  aid  materially  in  the 
average  ot  ages,  except  only  in  case  of  general 
disaster  and  epidemic;  as  a  guarantee  for  this 
the  protection  of  the  **  Reserve  fund  **  must  be 
invoked,  and  it  is  substantially  claimed  by  the 
same  authority  that  the  limit  of  the  payment  from 
same  authority  that  the  limit  of  the  payment 
from  this  fund  over  the  one  per  cent.  Death 
Rate — with  its  accumulating  surplus  and  inter- 
est— will  maintain  itself  for  each  decade." 

Had   he   understood   the  question  he  would 


97 

have  said  :  "  We  learn  from  these  facts  that 
for  ten  years  (from  1869-1879),  the  annual 
death  rate  of  the  District  —  being  from  6 
to  9  out  of  every  1000  members — increased  but 
little,  and  has  not  yet  reached  one  per  cent. ;  but 
this  is  attributable  to  the  very  large  accession  of 
young  men,  doubling  the  number  of  our  mem- 
bership in  these  ten  years.  So  large  an  increase 
cannot  be  expected  to  continue,  and  even  if  it 
were  to  continue  can  but  retard  the  inevitable 
advance  of  average  age,  not  prevent  the  mortal- 
ity from  increasing  so  as  to  soon  exceed  one  per 
cent.  The  average  rate  on  each  death  for  that 
period  was  18  cents;  had  we  maintained  this  rate, 
at  least,  instead  of  reducing  it  to  14  cents,  we 
might  from  1874-1879  have  accumulated  a  Re- 
serve  fund  of  just  three  times  its  present 
amount,  and  by  retaining  this  rate  until  we  ex- 
ceeded ten  thousand  members,  might  gradually 
have  obtained  an  adequate  reserve  fund.  As 
514  deaths  occurred,  imposing  a  cost  of  $87.92 
to  each  member,  it  can  be  easily  calculated  that 
the  514  deceased  members  paid  only  $45,000 
into  the  fund,  while  their  families  received  from 
it  $514,000,  and  as  this  loss  must  increase  from 
year   to   year,  even  if  the  rate  of  mortality  were 


98 

to  remain  at  about  the  same  ratio,  it  must  end  in 
failure." 

The  best  sources  of  information^  tell  us  "  that 
societies  whose  members  are  simply  required  to 
meet  the  current  risk  of  the  year,  are  undoubt- 
edly the  most  objectionable  of  all  sorts  of  bene- 
fit societies.  They  do  not  recognize  the  princi- 
ple which  is  the  foundation  of  all  true  friendly 
societies  :  that  of  making  a  provision  in  youth 
for  the  winter  of  life,  and  it  may  be  easily  shown 
that  if  an  attempt  be  made  to  evade  it,  the 
formation  of  a  friendly  society  is  impossible.** 

It  is,  however,  substantially  claimed  by  the 
same  authority  '*That  this  vital  defect  should  be, 
and  can  be,  easily  remedied  by  basing  the  insur- 
ance upon  such  ratable  assessments  as  will  not 
only  cover  its  cost  now,  but  also  provide  for  the 
cost  of  the  same  at  an  advanced  age,  placing  it,  in 
fact,  upon  a  sound  mathematical  basis,  which  is 
susceptible  of  clear  demonstration.  This  will 
secure  a  confidence  in,  and  permanency  of  the 
association,  which  cannot  otherwise  be  had.*' 

Thus  would  the  President  have  addressed  the 

I. — Professor  Neilson,  the  highest  English  authority  on 
Friendly  Societies. 


99 

members  of  that  special  convention  of  District 
Grand  Lodge  No.  i,  had  he  understood  the  sub- 
ject, thus  would  he  have  said,  had  he  not  disre- 
garded the  recommendations  of  our  executive 
committee,  which,  in  its  official  report  for  1878 
published  my  Treatise  on  Fraternal  Endowments 
with  a  view  to  set  forth  the  defects  and  point 
out  the  remedies,  a  work  which  received  the 
commendation  of  the  best  insurance  authorities, 
and  which  materially  contributed  to  the  improve- 
ment of  the  plans  of  other  mutual  benefit  associ- 
tions.  But  that  very  eloquent  president  preferred 
to  study  fine  phrases  rather  than  dry  facts  and 
figures,  or  the  report  of  our  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge  which  adopted  the  recommendation  to 
our  Districts,  "  to  improve  their  endowment  laws 
by  wise  legislation,  and  to  apply  every  informa- 
tion available,  in  order  to  make  these  laws  per- 
manently successful,  so  as  to  keep  faith  with  the 
promises  and  expectations  held  out  to  their 
members.*' 

Instead  of  recommendmg  any  improvement,  he 
arrived  at  the  following  peroration  :  "  Let  the 
judgment  go  forth  to-day  from  you  whether  we 
shall  reiterate  the  declaration  of  our  principles, 
as  laid  down,  in  the  preamble  of  our  Order — or 


whether  we  shall  inaugurate  a  new  policy,  and 
declare,  now  and  for  all  time,  that  the  ambitions 
and  aims  of  District  No.  i  were,  and  are  only,  the 
formation  of  a  Life  Insurance  Company." 

As  if  a  "  Life  Insurance  Company "  were  a 
reproach.  Yes,  a  Life  Insurance  Company  that 
makes  promises  which  cannot  be  fulfilled,  one 
that  professes  to  give  insurance  for  less  than 
half-cost,  one  that  robs  Peter  to  pay  Paul,  one 
that  mismanages  or  misapplies  the  funds  of  its 
members — is  a  fraud  and  a  disgrace  ;  but  purely 
mutual  life  assurance,  based  on  correct  principles, 
honestly,  prudently  and  economically  managed, 
is  one  of  the  noblest  devices  of  human  wisdom, 
one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  association 
and  co-operation,  of  which  modern  civilization 
may  well  be  proud.  Fraternal  Life  Insurance 
based  on  the  same  scientific  principles,  the  same 
well-established  laws  of  mortality,  but  pruned  of 
the  defects  and  excrescences  of  life  insurance  for 
profit^  and  established  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  provide  for  our  widows  and  orphans,  for  those 
we  love  and  who  are  dependent  on  our  support — 
to  provide  for  these  after  our  death — "is  the 
realization  of  fraternity  without  the  destruction 
of  independence  and  individuality;  it  is  a  charity 


without  cant,  which  enriches  the  giver  and  does 
not  humiliate  the  receiver."  ^ 

It  must  be  stated,  however,  that  the  error  of 
the  President  was  one  of  the  head  and  not  of  the 
heart,  his  honesty  of  purpose  and  indefatigable 
zeal  in  furthering  the  principles  and  aims  of 
our  brotherhood  are  thankfully  acknowledged 
and  of  record  in  the  annals  of  the  Order. 

After  the  reading  of  his  message,  a  printed 
copy  of  which  was  handed  to  every  representa- 
tive (i6o  were  present),  the  signers  to  the  pet- 
ition on  behalf  of  Manhattan  Lodge,  No.  156, 
explained  the  reasons  for  the  call  of  this  special 
session  and  stated,  that  the  '^Endowment"  ques- 
tion in  the  District  was  one  of  the  principal 
causes  of  this  action,  and  that  measures  should 
be  taken  to  insure  its  safety  in  the  future. 

Resolutions  were  offered;  one,  that  the  rate 
of  assessment  should  not  be  less  than  16  cents 
for  each  death;  another  that  the  rate  of  Endow- 
ment remain  13  cents  for  next  year  and  that  the 
"general"  fund,  (collected  during  twenty-five 
years  for  the  purpose  of  giving  our  aged   and 


2. — Elizur  Wright,  Savings  Bank  Life  Insurance,  Boston, 
1872,  folio  edition,  page  17- 


<  <        '     ,  ,...<<  <  .  JQ2 

helpless  brethren  a  "  Home "),  should  hence- 
forth be  known  as  the  reserve  fund! 

Finally,  after  a  long  discussion,  the  following 
motion  was  adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  fifteen  be  appointed, 
to  whom  shall  be  referred  the  resolutions  of  Manhat- 
tan  Lodge,  3  and  the  amendment  of  Bro.  J.  E.  New- 

3. — Washington  Lodge,  No.  19,  also  recommended,  in  a 
masterly  written  memorial,  that  the  *' death  rate'*  be  in- 
creased from  13  to  15  cents  per  member  But  no  mention 
is  made  of  it  in  the  official  proceedings  !  It  contained  the 
following  unpleasant  but  truthful  words  : 

*'  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  representatives  have,  at  all 
the  annual  meetings  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  repeated  the  error^ 
(in  spite  of  all  warnings  of  the  several  General  Committees) 
of  reducing  the  'death-rate,'  thereby  making  the  formation 
of  a  proper  reserve- fund  an  impossibility. 

*  Consequently  it  is  our  sacred  duty  to  change  this  state 
of  affairs  and  increase  the  *  death-rate'  from  13  to  15  cents 
per  member,  instead  of  stretching  out  our  hands  for  money 
not  collected^  nor  lawfully  applicable^  for  this  purpose . 

'•  By  the  adoption  of  such  a  measure  the  Endowment  Re- 
serve Fund  would  represent  a  capital  of  about  $200,000 
within  five  years,  i.e.,  in  1885,  and  if  continued  would 
amount  (with  interest  and  compound  interest)  to  1650,000 
in  1890,  as  everybody  can  easily  calculate.  Properly  man- 
aged, this  capital  would  of  course  increase  proportionately 
in  the  future. 

**  According  to  the  opinion  of  experts,  these  amounts 
would  suffice  to  insure  forever  the  payment  of  |iooo  to  the 
heirs  of  every  brother,  and  would  place  the  further  exis- 
tence of  this  beneficial  provision  beyond  all  doubt. 

"The   number  of  deaths  for  the  year  1879  will  probably 


103 

burger(to  amalgamate  the  general  and  endowment  fund 
funds),  also  that  the  lodges  and  representatives  be  in- 
vited to  send  in  their  plans  and  views  up  to  the  1 5th' 
of  November  to  that  committee,  who  shall  engage  an 
actuary,  and  be  ready  with  a  full  ard  comprehensive 
report  and  plan  for  action  at  the  next  session  of  this 
Grand  Lodge. 

On  January  25 tb,  1880,  District  Grand  Lodge, 
No.  I  assembled  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
the  Committee  on  Endowment,  appointed  at  the 
preceding  special  session  (Oct.  12th,  1879),  pre- 
sented three  reports  : 

First:  The  majority  of  said  committee  was 
of  the  opinion  that  '*as  long  as  the  membership 
can  be  maintained  at  the  present  average  age, 
and  the  payments  continue  as  heretofore,  the 
stability  of  the  fund  is  established ;  .  ,  . 
that  the  average  age  of  the  members  has  not 
changed  materially  during  the  past  ten  years, 

not  exceed  80,  but  let  us  say  it  were  90,  (i.  e. ,  i  per  cent  of 
the  9000  members  of  our  District).  Each  brother  would 
then,  at  the  rate  of  15  cents,  have  to  pay  the  (enormous  !  !) 
amount  of  $13.50  per  annum,  or  scarcely  more  than  half  the 
sum  which  any  good  Insurance  Company  would  charge  as 
annual  premium  for  men  averaging  35  years  of  age, 

"  Now,  we  ask  where  is  the  reason  for  all  the  noise  and 
commotion  which  for  months  has  been  called  forth  by  some 
lodges  and  which  found  its  echo  in  the  public  Press  ? 

**  We  cannot  see  it." 


I04 

while  ifi  the  future  it  will  decrease  considerable, 
as  the  new  element  which  is  constantly  being 
added  consists  chiefly  of  young  men;  .  .  and  if 
in  any  one  year  the  burden  should  be  greater  than 
of  other  years,  our  brethren  will  not  hesitate  to 
pay  the  additional  assessment;  ....  that  as 
long  as  the  present  average  age  of  our  members 
remains   as  it  is,  the  death  rate   will  not  be  more 

than  from  %  to  i  per  cent That  an 

expert  actuary  of  well  known  ability  corroborates 
the  statement  above  made  .  .  .  and,  consider- 
ing all  these  facts,  it  would  not  be  necessary  to 
change  the  rate  of  assessment;  ....  but 
we  may  with  propriety  try  some  new  method, 
by  which  future  success  may  be  more  firmly 
established  ....  and  therefore  recommend 
that  hereafter  an  annual  assessment  of  $13  per 
member  be  levied.  By  the  adoption  of  such  a 
measure,  the  Endowment  Reserve  fund  would 
in  a  few  years  represent  a  capital,  such  as  would 
remove  every  doubt  concerning  the  solvency  of 
the  Endowment  and  make  the  same  more  secure 
than  any  insurance  company  ...  No  part  of 
the  Reserve  fund  shall  be  used  for  the  payment 
of  any  endowment,  excepting  in  case  the  death 
rate  in  any  one  year  shall  exceed  i^  P^r  cent. 


105 

of  the  membership/'  .  .  .  and  "if  the  re- 
commendations of  this  committee  are  adopted, 
the  stability  and  future  maintenance  of  the  En- 
dowment is  forever  secured/' 

Thus  ran  the  long  and  anxiously  expected 
report  of  the  majority  (nine  members)  of  the 
committee;  and  its  minority  (of  five  members) 
heartily  concurred  in  the  sentiments  expressed 
in  the  majority- report  as  to  the  security  of  the 
Endowments^  but  recommended  a  scheme  where- 
by the  funds  were  to  be  held  by  the  lodges 
invested  in  the  U.  S.  bonds,  and  the  assessment 
rate  was  to  remain  13  cents.  I 

The  unanimity  with  which  fourteen  out  of 
fifteen  members  of  a  committee,  consisting  of 
Past  Presidents,  distinguished  brothers  of  the 
Order,  men  of  a  high  degree  of  ability  and  in- 
telligence; agreed  and  subscribed  to  such  pal- 
pable fallacies,  is  one  of  the  phenomena  of  pop- 
ular delusions.  But  the  statement  ot  that 
committee,  that  they  "  deemed  it  advisable  to 
consult  an  expert  actuary  of  well  known  ability, 
who,  after  careful  study  of  all  points,  corrobo- 
rated the  statements  made  above"  is  more  than 
a   mistake.       No  actuary   of  any  ability  could 


io6 

ever  admit  such  absurdities ^     Either  the  com- 
mittee must  have  been  deceived  by  an  expert  in 

4. — **  Absurdities"  is  a  strong,  harsh  expression  ;  but  the 
members  of  that  committee,   many  of  whom  I  know  and 
highly  respect,  will  admit,  after  kindly  studying  the  follow 
ing,  that  it  is  fully  justified  : 

Supposing  it  were  true  or  possible, as  stated  and  corrobor- 
ated by  their  actuary,  that  the  average  age  could  remain  the 
same,  and  that  thus  the  death  rate  in  any  decade  would  not 
be  more  than  from  ^  to  i  per  cent;  then  (taking  the  mem- 
bership to  continue  at  9000,  as  the  Committee  itself  did 
the  highest  death  rate  would  be  90,  or  in  fifty  years  4500, 
deaths.  Now,  assuming  that  all  these  deaths  would  occur 
among  the  original  members  only,  and  that  none  of  the 
additional  members  joining  during  these  50  years,  were  to 
die  (another  impossibility)  even  then,  at  the  end  of  the  50th 
year,  there  would  still  remain  living  4500  of  the  original 
members,  whose  age  could  not  be  less  than  between  75  and 
90  years  !  And  under  the  above  assumption  of  90  deaths 
per  annum  another  half  century  would  have  to  pass  away 
before  these  remaining  4500  very  old  members  could  depart 
from  life  ! 

The  expert  in  wondrous  cheap  insurance  may  tell  you  : 
The  lapses  must  be  taken  into  consideration."  Well,  do 
so:  assume  that  1500  members  have  withdrawn  and  it 
would  still  leave  3000  instead  of  4500  members  who — being 
after  50  years  near  four-score  years  of  age — cannot  be 
expected  to  live  much  longer,  while  according  to  the  absurd 
assumption  of  a  permanent  death  rate  not  exceeding  90  pe 


I07 

those  fraudulent  schemes, — the  Superintendent 
of  Insurance  of  New  York,  the  Hon.  John  A. 
McCall,  Jr.,  said  of  them  in  his  last  report: 
"The  pretences  and  promises  of  the  managers 
of  some  of  these  schemes  would  be  grotesque, 
if  they  were  not  put  forth  in  a  serious  way, — or 
they  have  been  imposed  upon  by  a  wag,  wishing 
some  sport  at  their  expense.  Who  the  Com- 
mittee's actuary  *'of  well  known  ability"  was,  is 
nowhere  told;  but  the  accounts  of  that  year's 
expenses  divulge  the  fact  that  the  enormous 
sum  of  $20  was  paid  as  "actuary's  fee  for  Endow- 
ment committee." 

The  committee  could  certainly  not  get  an 
Elizur  Wright,  or  a  Sheppard  Romans,  or  any 
other  respectable  actuary  "of  well  known  ability" 

year,  they  would  have  to  reach  an  age  which,  under  the 
divine  laws  of  human  life  and  death,  is  not  granted  to  one 
man  out  of  thousands. 

Experts  of  fraudulent  insurance  schemes  assume  that  9 
per  cent  of  the  members  would  annually  lapse  (or  be 
dropped)  while  i  per  cent  would  die;  and  that  in  the  same 
proportion  new,  young  members  could  annually  be  induced 
to  join,  so  that  after  ten  years  none  of  the  original  members 
are  left !  Thus,  and  thus  only,  can  the  statement  be 
corroborated  that  **  the  rate  in  any  decade  will  not  be  more 
than  from  ^  to  i  per  cent. 


io8 

to  study  all  points  of  our  Endowment  system 
and  give  an  opinion  for  $20.  But  the  committee 
might  have  saved  even  those  $20;  its  members 
needed  only  to  consult  the  report  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  for  187 7-1 87 8,  wherein  it  is 
shown  and  proven  by  plain  calculations,  easily 
understood  by  any  one  who  can  figure,  that  no 
probable  addition  of  new  and  younger  members 
could  prevent  the  advance  of  age  and,  conse- 
quently, the  increasing  mortality  in  any  society. 
One  member  of  that  committee,  however,  (Bro. 
Isidor  Metzger)  had  evidently  well  informed 
himself,  had  carefully  considered  the  subject, 
and  being  satisfied  that  his  conclusions  were 
correct,  had  the  manhood  to  express  them  in  a 

MINORITY-REPORT    OF    ONE. 

This  report  deserves  a  careful  study,  the  more 
so,  as  it  may  well  serve  for  the  basis  of  the  first 
correct  solution  of  this  yet  unsolved  problem 
in  District  No.  i. 

He  introduces  his  report  with  the  modest 
remark  that :  at  first  sight  it  may  appear  both 
plausible  and  proper  to  presume,  that  the  views 
of  so  large  a  majority  must  be  correct,  and  the 
opinions  of  one,  in  the  minority,  false  and  il- 
logical; but  he  hopes  that  an  unbiased  judgment 


I09 

may  yet  find  some  few  grains  of  truth  in  the 
assertions  of  the  latter,  particularly  as  the  latter 
has  this  much  in  his  favor  :  that  while  the 
majority  offer  results  without  stating  their  rea- 
sons, the  minority  gives  reasons  for  arriving  at 
his  conclusions. 

First,  however,  before  stating  his  reasons,  he 
asks:  "Does  it  require  any  argument  to  prove 
that  a  man  of  55  should  pay  almost  double  of 
what  a  man  of  35  has  to  pay  to  have  his  life 
insured  ?  Are  the  prospects  of  life  of  a  man  of 
the  age  of  55  the  same  as  those  of  a  man  of  35, 
assuming,  of  course  to  be  both  equally  in  good 
health  ?  .  .  .  Is  it  therefore  not  self  evident 
that  the  method  so  far  pursued  in  the  endow- 
ment matter  is  erroneous  and  contrary  to  every 
kno^n  law  either  of  mortality  or  insurance?" 
No  answer  to  this  question  is  given  in  his  report, 
nor  anywhere  in  the  records  of  the  various 
Grand  Lodges;  and  yet  this  question  is  a  most 
important  one. 

From  the  standpoint  of  theory,  on  the  mathe- 
matically correct  basis  of  life  insurance  business^ 
— assessments  as  well  as  premiums  would  have 
to  be  equitably  graded  according  to  age.  But, 
aside  from    the    fact   that    the   Court    of  Ap-r 


peals  of  the  Order  B'nal  B'rith  has  decideds  in 
favor  of  uniformity  of  taxation,  and  has  declared 
the  grading  of  rates  unconstitutional,  sound  and 
weighty  arguments,  based  on  the  higher  stand- 
point of  fraternal  benevolence,  speak  strongly  in 
favor  of  a  uniform  rate  of  assessment;  and  it 
can  be  shown  and  demonstrated  by  figures  that 
within  certain  limitations  this  method  is  safely 
admissible:  Aye,  taking  the  adjustments  by 
which  its  defects  may  be  neutralized  into  ac- 
count, a  uniform  rate  \?>  preferable  for  a  fraternal 
benevolent  institution.  The  equality  of  contri- 
butions and  of  benefits  at  once  distinguishes  the 
truly  benevolent  institution  from  the  mere  in- 
surance business,  and  entitles  fraternal  en- 
dowment societies  to  the  motto,  "Alter  alterius 
Onera  Portate/' 

The  NECESSARY  LIMITATIONS  are,  that  none 
be  admitted  to  membership,  (as  far  as  the  en- 
dowment is  concerned),  above  the  age  of  45, 
none  who  are  sick  or  subject  to  herditary  dis- 
ease, and  that  none  but  the  widow  and  orphans 
or  designated  members  of  the  family,   or  purely 

5.— Appeal  X,  Hellbron  et  al,  vs.  D.  G.  L.  No.  2.  Re- 
port of  the  Executive  Committee  of  C  G.  L  ,  1872-73. 


benevolent  institutions,  be  allowed  to  receive  the 
benefit.  The  principal  adjustments  are  the 
great  saving  in  expenses,  the  easy  and  perfect 
control  of  the  management,  the  exclusion  of  any 
feature  of  profit;  and  the  fact  that  all  lapses 
enure  to  the  benefit  of  the  faithful  adherents  of 
the  Order.  These  limitations  and  adjustments  reduce 
the  actual  cost  of  insurance  by  more  than  the  dif- 
ference in  mortality  between  the  ages  of  25  and  45 
years,  which  difference  is  not  over  $3.  per  $1000 
annually. 

Practically,  age  alone  is  not  a  perfectly  reliable 
guide,  and  unitorm  rates  for  men  of  the  same  age 
are  not  always  equitably  just.  From  the  uncertainty 
of  individual  life  nobody  can  predict  his  own  term ; 
hence  it  cannot  be  called  unfair, — else  it  would  be 
just  as  unfair  that  a  young  member,  who  dies  after 
paying  but  few  years  a  low  rate,  receive  the  same 
benefit  as  an  old  member,  who  attains  the  age  of 
75  or  more  years,  and  pays  a  high  rate.  Moreover, 
there  are  two  methods  of  grading  mortality  rates; 
one  with  rates  which  do  not  increase  with  age  after 
entry,  and  another  with  rates  which  increase  after 
age  of  entry.  Both  have,  practically,  some  serious 
defects :  If  the  rates  are  graded  according  to  age 
and  do  not  increase  with  advancing  age  after  entry. 


112 

it  must  result,  before  long,  in  unequal  taxation  on 
members  of  the  same  age,  but  admitted  at  different 
ages, — thereby  creating  dissatisfaction ;  and  the  rates 
must  be  loaded  so  as  to  accumulate  a  reserve  fund, 
no  less  in  the  aggregate  amount  than  under  a  uni- 
form rate,  but  more  complicated.  If  the  rates  in- 
crease after  age  of  entr)'',  they  would  be  low  at  first, 
as  no  large  reserve  fund  is  required  under  this  me- 
thod, but  they  advance  with  the  increasing  mortal- 
ity after  the  "  turn  of  life,"  from  age  60,  so  as  to  be- 
come oppressive,  practically  forcing  old  members 
to  withdraw,  losing  the  benefit  intended  for  their 
widows  and  orphans. 

The  following  Table  may  serve  to  compare 
those  methods.  The  figures  {"columns  i,  2  and  7) 
show  the  number  of  members  of  District  No.  i, 
I.  O.  B.  B.,  at  their  respective  ages  on  Jan.  i, 
1885  (ascertained  from  official  reports  of  its 
Lodges) . 


hJ    1    ^   Ov  Osv-n  v-n  ^  4i-  OJ    K) 

^       ^  0\^  0\^  o\^   ^  >^ 

^       ^  '^  ON  Onv^  or,  4:^  4:^  u> 

1 

Ages. 

From 

to 

to 
4^ 
00 

I-,       »-,      HH      to      •-• 

•-•  »-tOiVj  OU)4i-vO   0 
0  uri  00  i^  On  OOVO   On  O 

No,  of  Members 

at  the                 ^: 
respective  ages. 

1 

<»^U>   to   "-H   w  HH   0   0 

0  0  4^  4^  '^  w  b  vb  bo 

Percent,  of           ^ 
mortality. 

00 

•-•*-••-•      •-•'-H      to 

00  00  ti    00  00  ONV^    ON  00 

No.  of  deaths  ac.        ^k 
to  ex  p.  mor'ty. 

1 

0^4^4^VT  to   OvO  .00"^ 

Annual  as'ments        -^ 
incr.  with  age. 

to 

00 

to 

00^  ^  poccps^  p\cc 

^   00  "to  "hh  '0  on  vb   On  b  "^ 
Ov-n    to    OnOOOn04^    0 

00000000000 

Amount  realized 

from  these 
Assessments  at         Ct 
therespect.ages. 

VO 
to 

h-i    w  00  *^    0              00 
0  Wn  OJ  on    ON           Ck> 

un*vj  0  M4^           0 

No.  of  Members 

from  21-50, 
others  grouped         *^ 
as  before. 

1 

0  0  4^  -1^  00        v>i         =^ 

Annual  Assess-        ^ 
ments  not  in- 

ON 

lo 

HH      _,      ^H                     0 

00^  •-"   OOVO           -^ 

4^  00 -to  l."^        ;^        ^ 

0  en    to    ONVjri             "^ 

000  ooto          0 

creasing    up  to 
age    of  50,  and        ^ 
am't  realized  fr, 
such  assessm'ts. 

1 

00  00  00  00  00             00           ^^ 

Uniform  rate          Ki 
not  increasing.         C 

On 
ON 

4^ 

•H     t-H                    to 

^    to  V-nOJ  VO              W 

oooovb  on'mh        vb        ^ 

VO    to  4^    to  en            4^ 
0   On  0   ON  to            0 

Amount  realized        Ki 
therefrom.             1*** 

to 

4^   to   •-•   iM 

0  en  ^J    to    00  ONen  VO  ^J  ..^ 
OOOOenOOOto^^ 

At 

increasing 

rates. 

-«    rt    3    0 

to 

^^^^^^^g^g^^ 

At  uniPm 

non-inc's'g 

rates. 

114 

A  careful  study  of  these  figures  will  convey 
more  information  to  thoughtful  readers  than  many 
pages  of  arguments  could  give. 

Having  considered  the  question  left  unanswered 
in  the  minority  report,  and  shown  that  the  method 
pursued  in  our  Endowment  system  is  not  as  defective 
nor  as  erroneous  as  it  appears^  if  judged  from  the 
standpoint  of  theory;  that,  on  the  contrary,  as  a 
practical  method,  properly  adjusted  and  based  on  a 
SUFFICIENT  uniform  contribution,  it  is  preferable  for 
fraternal  organizations ;  let  us  now  return  to  that  in- 
teresting report  of  one  (Jan.,  1880).  It  proceeds 
thus :  '^  The  absolute  falsity  of  the  proposition  that 
the  average  age  of  the  members  will  decrease  con- 
siderably in  years  to  come  owing  to  the  addition  of 
a  new  and  presumably  you?iger  element  into  the 
Order,  is  demonstrated  by  the  following  example : 
Assuming  our  membership  in  District  No.  i  to  be 
9,000  at  an  average  age  of  40,  it  is  evident  that 
next  year  the  average  age  will  be  41^  or,  in  other 
words,  the  entire  body  will  be  collectively  9,000 
years  older.  To  keep  the  average  age  at  that  figure 
(not  to  reduce  it,  as  asserted  above)  it  would  require 
an  influx  of  not  less  than  900  members  whose  aver- 
age age  must  not  exceed  30  years;  and  each  succeed- 
ing year,  instead  of  alleviating  the  evil,  would  only 


1*5 


heighten  it. — Statistics  show  that  our  gain  in  mem- 
bership  does  not  and  never  will  keep  pace  with  what 
is  required  to  maintain  the  average  age."^ 

6. — The  following  table,  showing  the  increase  in  mem- 
bership and  mortality,  in  District  No.  i,  from  the  Statistical 
Reports  of  its  G.  L.  for  the  years  1874.  to  1885  furnishes 
mathematical  proof  that  the  average  age  must  have  increase 
ed  also,  notwithstandmg  the  large  addition  of  a  new  and 
young  element.  This  calculation  assumes  the  average  age 
of  the  members  in  1874  at  40,  (it  was  then  40.66  in  District 
No.  2,);  the  average  age  of  all  deceased  members  at  50,  and 
that  of  the  new  additional  members  at  30  years  only ;  and 
yet,  under  these  most  favorable  assumptions,  their  present 
average  age  must  be  45  years. 


Year 

Date. 
Jan.  I. 

£ 

g 

Q 

Addition 

of 

NewM'bers. 

Increase 

in 

Membership. 

■It 

I 

1874 

6568 

40.00 

39 

0.6 

343 

304 

4.6 

2 

1875 

6872 

40.40 

58 

0.9 

508 

450 

6.5 

3 

1876 

7322 

40.53 

55 

0.8 

317 

262 

3.6 

4 

1877 

75S4 

41.00 

5^ 

0.7 

570 

518 

6.8 

5 

1878 

8102 

41.10 

77 

0.9 

470 

393 

4.8 

6 

1879 

8495 

4T-39 

S9 

I.O 

317 

228 

^7 

7 

1880 

8723 

41.72 

85 

I  0 

162 

11 

0.9 

8 

1881 

8800 

42.4^ 

90 

1.0 

236 

146 

1.7 

9 

1882 

8946 

43.00 

85 

0.9 

250 

165 

1.8 

10 

1883 

9111 

43-54 

106 

1.2 

247 

141 

1-5 

II 

1884 

9252 

44.09 

100 

I.I 

91 

dec.  9  0.0 

12 

1885 

9243 

44.86  ~ 

1 

^*  The  assertion  that  as  long  as  we  keep  our  av- 
erage age  at  40,  the  rate  of  mortaUty  will  not  exceed 
I  per  cent,  is  not  combatted ;  but  having  demonstra- 
ted that  it  is  physically  impossible  to  keep  our 
average  age  so  low,  it  very  naturally  follows  that  our 

mortality  must  yearly  increase and  if  we  desire 

to  perpetuate  the  'Endowment  Fund/  we  must 
make  provision  for  that  contingency,  so  that  all  may 
equally  receive  the  benefit  of  the  same,  whether  we 
be  cut  down  in  the  prime  of  Hfe  or  may  reach  the 
age  of  three  score  and  ten.  We  cannot  continue  as 
we  have  done  ;  we  cannot  assume  to  pay  out  to  the 
heirs  of  our  members  more  than  we  receive,  without 
drifting  into  bankruptcy.  How  is  the  deficiency  to 
be  supplied  ?  It  is  very  simple  to  say,  from  the 
future  accession  of  new  members  ;  but  that  method 
will  come  to  a  speedy  end,  as  the  history  of  institu- 
tions based  on  this  principle  will  show In  con- 
clusion, if  the  statement  made,  that  our  death  rate 
will  never  exceed  i  per  cent,  be  true,  it  would  re- 
quire just  100  years  before  the  last  member  (even  if 
we  did  not  get  another  member,)  would  have 
died.  "7 


7. — The  statement  that,  (did  we  not  get  another  member) 
it  would  require  100  years  before  the  last  of  9000  members 
would  die,  should  our  death  rate  never  exceed  I  per  cent — is 


117 

The  said  minority  report  further  expresses  it  as 
his  opinion  that:  ^'We  must  either  be  prepared,  as 
the  increase  m  mortaUty  comes,  to  pay  the  onerous 
increasing  tax  required,  or  we  must  make  now  some 
provision  for  the  future." 

In  further  explanation  the  report  quotes  from  the 
author  of  this  Study,  and  arrives  at  the  following  re- 


a  fair  illustration  of  the  gross  mistakes  which  even  very 
intelligent  men  may  commit  in  calculating  the  simplest 
problem  of  life  insurance. 

As  I  per  cent  of  9000=90,  and  as  100x90=9000,  this 
statement,  at  first  sight,  appears  correct;  but  as  the  number 
surviving  is  annually  reduced  by  i  per  cent,  the  number  of 
deaths  is  also  proportionately  reduced,  so  that  after  100 
years  over  3000  members  would  remain  living,  and  after  220 
years  1000  members  would  not  yet  have  died  !  At  this  rate 
it  would  take  a  century  for  the  last  one  hundred  men,  and 
this  at  a  death  rate  annually  increasing  in  percentage  from 
I  per  cent  in  the  first  to  50  per  cent  in  the  99th  year.  In 
like  manner  the  90  deaths  annually,  as  assumed  in  above 
statement,  would  not  be  a  death  rate  of  i  per  cent,  except- 
ing in  the  first  year;  in  the  51s  t  year,  when  but  half  the 
members,  (4500)  wouldbe  left,  this  number  of  deaths  would 
already  be  2  per  cent,  and  in  the  99th  year  it  would  be  50 
per  cent  of  the  remaining  180  members.  While  this  error 
is  of  no  practical  moment,  as  nobody  is  expected  to  reach 
Methuselah's  age,  it  shows  how  easily  fallacies  are  taken 
for  truths. 


ii8 

suit:  *^  The  amount  annually  payable  by  every 
member  of  District  No.  i,  should  be  not  less  than 
$i8,  and  anything  less  than  that  sum  would  result 
in  providing  for  only  a  part  and  not  for  all  of  the 
members  of  the  District." . . . .  **  The  issue  which  in- 
stigated this  investigation,  having  been  brought 
about  by  a  large  number  of  brethren  who  find  the 
increasing  taxes  too  onerous  to  bear — no  remedy 
like  the  above  can  be  expected  to  be  adopted;  the 
only  alternative  that  the  undersigned  can  therefore 
recommend,  would  be  the  reduction  of  the  Endow- 
ment from  ^i,ooo  to  $500  ;  and  an  annual  assess- 
ment of  ^9.00  per  annum,  payable  quarterly,  in  ad- 
vance, and  invested  under  the  'direction  of  the 
Grand  Lodge,  or  any  committee,  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  bear  not  less  than  5  per  cent,  interest  per  an- 
num; and  while  the  first  decade,  under  an  average 
mortality,  would  show  a  large  surplus,  subsequent 
years,  with  an  increased  death  rate  would  show  that 
our  resources  were  but  just  sufficient  to  meet  the 
legitimate  demand  made  upon  us ....  I  question 
whether  the  above  proposition  will  meet  with  your 
approval ;  but,  if  I  have  only  succeeded  in  convinc- 
ing a  handful  of  your  worthy  body  of  the  correct- 
ness of  my  theory,  I  feel  well  repaid and  will 

leave  to  *  Time,  Patience  and  Perseverence,*  which 


119 

conquer  all  things,  the  ultimate  adoption,  perhaps 
in  some  modified  form,  of  my  views.'* 

The  doubts  of  the  said  report  of  one,  as  to 
whether  the  proposition  contained  therein  would 
meet  with  approval,  were  but  too  well  founded. 

Our  representatives  probably  thought  "'Twere 
to  consider  too  curiously,"  to  consider  so  oda  a 
proposition.  After  a  few  hours'  debate,  rich  in 
words  and  poor  in  arguments,  the  ^'previous  ques- 
tion "was  ordered,  and  the  following  motion  was 
adopted  : 

"  That  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  advisable  at  present 
to  increase  the  taxation  of  the  lodges,  and  that  as  the 
endowment  law  has  worked  successfully  up  to  the 
the  present,  the  same  be  continued  for  another  year, 
and  the  three  reports  as  submitted  be  laid  on  the  ta- 
ble." 

A  motion  to  increase  the  per  capita  tax  for 
endowments  from  13  to  15  cents,  and  an  amend- 
ment to  make  it  14  cents, — were  both  defeated. 

Were  the  members  who  signed  the  majority 
report  allowed  to  reconsider  their  action  to-day, 
most  of  them  would  sign  and  vote  for  that  min- 
ority report  of  one  ;  aye,  they  themselves  would 
now  scarcely  believe  that  tney  signed  as  they 


did,  were  the  record  thereof  not  preserved  in 
print. 

This  is  no  reproach;  it  shows  a  growth  in  wis- 
dom. Fools  only  do  not  admit  that  they  have 
erred  and  are  ashamed  to  learn.  Thus,  the  En- 
dowment remained  as  it  was — unchanged. 

Whether  the  brethren  of  District  No.  i  were 
willing  to  adopt  the  views  of  the  majority,  or,  as 
good  American  citizens,  had  agreed  to  abide  by 
the  legal  decision  of  the  majority -7- right  or 
wrong, — certain  it  is,  that  **  the  storm  subsided," 
peace  and  harmony  were,  for  a  time,  restored. 

In  January,  1881,  the  President's  Message  re- 
ferred to  the  Endowment  in  the  following  words: 
"  Our  death-rate  during  the  past  year  has  been 
about  the  same  as  that  of  the  year  previous,  one 
death  less  being  reported  than  heretofore  ;  it  is 
therefore  gratifying  to  perceive  that  although 
our  average  is  constantly  advancing  in  age,  we 
are  equally  fortunate  in  maintaining  our  equili- 
brium; the  per  capita  dues  therefore  can  be  safely  (i) 
retained  at  the  present  rate  for  the  coming  year'' 

The  committee  on  Widows  and  Orphans  Re- 
serve Fund  of  District  No.  i,  also  reported  : 
"  We  find  that  the  present  dues  of  13  cents 
leave  a  fair  surplus,  being  at  the  same  time  not 


burdensome  upon  our  members  and,  by  degrees, 
augmenting  our  Reserve  Fund  to  safe  propor- 
tions, we  recommend  that  the  same  remain  for 
the  next  year  as  the  pro  rata  rate." 

As  early  as  January,  1882,  however,  the  Pre- 
sident mentioned,  in  his  message,  that  the  En- 
dowment Laws  caused  animated  discussion 
among  our  constituents,  and  urged  the  import- 
ance  of  a  small  increase  in  the  per  capita  dues, 
in  order  that  this  prominent  and  interesting 
feature  (the  Endowment)  might  be  perpetuated. 
He  further  suggested  "  that  a  special  committee 
be  appointed,  to  report,  a  year  hence,  their  find- 
ings as  to  our  future  wants  in  this  direction, 
based  upon  unbiassed  opinions,  and  with  ample 
time  for  reflection,  such  as  is  not  granted  us 
when  in  convention  assembled." 

The  committee  on  that  President's  Message 
justly  praised  this  document  as  one  of  vast  re- 
search and  lucid  reasoning,  and  reported  :  "  In 
respect  to  the  Endowment,  we  do  not  deem  it 
expedient  at  present  to  increase  the  per  capita 
assessment,  but  heartily  concur  with  our  brother 
president,  and  perceive  the  necessity  of  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  committee  as  suggested  by  him, 
to  secure  the  stability  of   our  Endowment  and 


our  future  wants  in  that  direction." 

This  recommendation  was  adopted  and  the 
committee  appointed. 

Another  year  had  elapsed,  another  year  added 
to  the  age  of  our  members.  The  Grand  Lodge 
had  re-assembled  ;  and  on  this  occasion  the  spe- 
cial committee  on  Endowment  presented  a  unan- 
imous report.  The  president  in  his  message  to 
that  convention,  on  January  28th,  1883,  referred 
to  this  special  committee  as  "composed  of  breth- 
ren of  experience  and  judgment,  who  had 
doubtless  digested,  and  would  present,  a  plan 
worthy  of  proper  consideration.^ 

The  report  correctly  represents  the  views  gen- 
erally entertained  respecting  the  Endowment 
Fund,  and  expresses  the  hope  that  "  the  most 
cursory  review  of  the  statistics  presented  will 
demonstrate  to  the  least  expert  mathematician, 
that  a  grievous  error  has  been  committed  by 
those  who  were  the   sponsors   for  the   present 

I. — The  great  length  of  this  Report,  filling  over  nine 
pages  of  the  printed  proceedings,  and  the  fact  that  it  was 
afterwards  printed  for  distribution  among  all  the  members 
of  the  District,  will  necessitate  merely  a  short  synopsis  of 
the  same. 


123 

plan Any    ordinary    arithmetician    could 

have  shown  readily  and  clearly  what  number 
of  young  men  would  be  necessary  to  be  added 
annually  to  justify  the  calculation  based  on  a 
stationary  average  age  or  on  retarding  its  ad- 
vance to  such  a  degree  that  it  would  hardly  be 
fractional."  The  report  defines  the  position  of 
this  fund,  in  its  relation  to  those  who  contribute 
towards  it,  thus:  *'  There  are  members  who  scout 
the  idea  of  likening  the  Endowment  Fund  to  an 
insurance.  They  set  forth  that  the  Order  B*nai 
B*rith  existed  before  the  endowment  feature  was 
introduced  ;  that  the  fund  is  simply  one  of  the 
benevolent  objects  of  the  institution,  and  should 
not  be  based  on  those  mathematical  principles 
which  obtain  in  ordinary  life  insurance  ;  for^ 
say  they,  so  long  as  the  members  are  willing  to 
pay  the  assessments  levied  upon  them  to  this 
fund,  so  long  will  it  exist  as  one  of  the  benevo- 
lent features  of  the  District.  This  aspect  of  the 
case  would  certainly  be  reasonable,  if  the  endow 
ment  laws  were  based  upon  the  principle  that 
*  we   pay  as   long  as  we   can,  {or  are  willing  ta 

pay!)   and    no   longer.* As   the   laws   are 

framed  at  present,  however,  the  District  guaran- 
tees to  the  heirs  of  members,  who   have  com- 


124 

plied  with  the  provisions  of  the  law,  at  their 
death,  the  payment  of  $1000, thus  assum- 
ing  a   debt  which   it  is  in  honor  bound  to  pay. 

Let  us,  then,  see  whether  we  can  fulfill 

the  expectations  of  our  members,  if  the  present 
plan  is  continued." 

The  report  then  invites  the  attention  of  the 
members  to  some  statistics,  which  it  'presents  in 
their  simplest  form  ;  *  showing  first,  the  increase 
in  membership  from  1870  to  1882.  Here  it  may 
readily  be  seen  that  there  is  but  little  hope  of 
retarding  in  any  appreciative  degree  the  steady 
advance  of  the  average  age  of  members.  Then 
the  statistics  of  the  deaths  of  the  same  years  are 


2. — The  Committee  says:  **that  the  great  difficulty  has 
ever  been  that  in  demonstrating  problems  of  this  nature, 
recourse  to  figures  is  absolutely  necessary ;  usually,  how- 
ever, the  array  is  so  great,  that  the  ordinary  mind  stands 
aghast  and  fails  to  understand  them.  Many  timely  reforms, 
even  in  this  Grand  Lodge,  have  been  wrecked  by  a  display 
of  this  character."  But  while  a  display  of  figures  is  use- 
less and  sometimes  worse  than  useless  in  debate,  it  is  no 
less  indispensable  to  a  thorough  examination  of  such  prob- 
lems. Those  who  wish  to  study  the  subject  must  be  able 
to  examine  the  figures,  and  those  who  cannot  study  these 
should  be  guided  by  trustworthy  men  who  are  able  and 
willing  to  do  so. 


125 

given,  and  a  computation  with  these  figures 
shows,  that  while  the  increase  of  membership 
from  1870  to  1882  was  94  per  cent.,  the  increase 
of  deaths  during  the  same  period  was  164  per 
cent.3 


3. — In  the  last  decade,  from  1874  to  1884,  the  increase  in 
membership  (from  6568  to  9252  members)  was  only  40  per 
cent.,  while  the  increase  in  the  death-rate  was  over  170  per 
per  cent,  (from  39  deaths  in  1874  to  106  deaths  in  1884), 
reaching  a  mortality  which,  according  to  Am.  Experience 
tables,  would  indicate  the  age  of  47  years,  while  the  «z/^;- 
ageagewa."^  only  44  years.  ** Average  Age"  furnishes  no 
correct  basis  for  accurately  calculating  the  probable  mortal- 
ity. For  instance :  100  members  aged  30  each,  and  100 
members  aged  60  each,  having  together  a  total  age  of  9000 
years,  are  said  to  have  an  average  of  age  of  45 ;  but  while 
we  find  from  the  Table  of  Mortality  that  out  of  200  men  at 
the  age  of  45,  (death  rate  11  in  1000)  2.2  would  die  in  one 
year,  we  find  from  the  same  reliable  table  that 
Out  of  100  aged  30,  the  death-rate  is  0.85 
**     loo     **     60,  "  2.67 

Total,  3.52 

Consequently  out  of  these  200  members,  having  an  average 
age  of  45  years,  the  death-rate  would  be  at  least  three^  and 
not  only  two  members. 

This  may  sufficiently  explain  why  the  *^ Average  Age'*  fur- 
nishes no  accurately  correct  basis  for  calculations  of  mor" 
tality  ;  practically,  however,  not  even  the  most  accurate  cal- 
culation could  be  relied  upon  for  a  small  number  of  meca* 


126 

"This  exhibit  must  assuredly  demolish  the  as- 
sumption so  long  and  so  unwarrantedly  main- 
tained, that  the  "  average  age  "  of  the  members 
will  always  remain  the  same,  and  that  no  fear 
need  be  entertained  from  that  source." 

"  Having  shown  that  our  age  is  steadily  ad- 
vancing, and,  as  a  natural  consequence,  the 
number  of  deaths — increasing,"  the  committee 
had  "  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  unless  speedy 
measures  were  adopted,  and  of  such  a  nature  as 
would  prove  a  remedy  for  the  loss  of  the  past 
failure  would  be  inevitable. 

Earnestly  and  eloquently  the  report  appeals  to 
the  Grand  Lodge;  to  look  this  question  serious- 
ly in  the  face;  to  consider  it  as  men  and  brethren 
.seeking  each  other's  good;  to  take  wise  counsel; 
there  being  yet  time  to  effect  a  remedy.  It  al- 
ludes to  former  attempts  ;  but  ''  No  sooner  does 


bers  ;  and  in  a  society  whete  no  persons  above  the  age  of 
45  years  are  admitted,  the  average  age  furnishes  an  approx- 
imately correct  and  very  convenient  basis  for  calculation. 
Thus,  in  the  9243  members  of  District  No.  i,  at  their  pre- 
sent avetage  age  (45  years),  the  probable  mortality  would 
this  year  (1885)  be,  according  to  the  Am.  Experience  Mortal- 
ity Table:  104  deaths;  according  to  the  Actuaries'  Combined 
Experience  Table,  1 1 1  deaths ;  calculated  separately  for 
each  age,  the  result  would  be:  128  deaths.     (Seepage  115.) 


127 

the  question  arise  than  a  sort  of  demagogical 
spirit  springs  up  in  its  discussion — an  opposition 
based  on  utter  ignorance  of  the  interests  in- 
volved— a  kind  of  catering  to  and  currying  of 
favor  with  the  masses,  takes  the  place  of  reason 
and  duty,  and  thus  legislation  upon  this  question 
has  ever  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  measures 
which  were  {seemed)  expedient,  instead  of  those 
which  are  just.  The  time  has  now  arrived  when 
such  methods  must  be  swept  aside.  Action, 
looking  to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Fund,  must  be 
taken  immediately  ;  delay  will  prove  disastrous.** 
The  report  offers  further  excellent  arguments; 
also  figures  based  on  the  average  expectancy  of 
life,  (which  for  a  healthy  man  of  41  is  27  years,) 
showing  that  at  5  per  cent,  interest  an  annual 
payment  of  $17.42  will  in  27  years  produce 
$1000 ;4  and  after  due  consideration  and  calcula- 
tion the  committee  says:  "that  18  cents  per 
capita  for  each  death  will  yield  the  annual  con- 
tribution  as  shown  above,  and  create  a  reserve 


4. — The  committee  overlooked,  or  else  purposely  ignored, 
the  fact  that  out  of  the  annual  payments  of  the  surviving 
members,  the  endowments  of  those  who  died  from  year  to 
year  had  to  be  paid,  leaving  only  a  part  of  the  members' 
contributions  to  accumulate  at  interest. 


128 

fund  of  adequate  proportions." 

After  some  additional,  highly  valuable  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  admission  of  members,  and  other 
necessary  safeguards,  the  committee  report  closes 
with  the  following  words  :  **  we  would  ask  you 
to  study  the  questions  herein  discussed,  to  the 
end  that  the  reforms  advocated  may  be  adopted, 
so  that  the  system  will  be  a  real  blessing,  and 
secure  for  itself  and  our  beloved  institution  en- 
during prosperity." 

Did  the  representatives  study  the  question  ? 
Did  they  mind  the  earnest  appeal  for  the  speedy  •, 
adoption  of  measures  to  remedy  the  loss  of  the 
past?  Did  they  listen  to  the  wise  counsel  of 
their  own  committee,  "brethren  of  experience 
and  judgment,"  as  the  President  had  designated 
them,  and  as  every  member  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
had  to  admit  them  to  be  ?  Did  this  Grand 
Lodge  take  any  action  looking  to  the  perpetuity 
of  the  fund  ? 

Alas!  far  from  it.  The  demagogical  motion  : 
"  that  the  report  be  printed  for  distribution,  that 
copies  be  sent  to  all  the  members  of  the  District 
through  the-respective  lodges,  and  that  the  con- 
sideration of  the  report  be  deferred  to  the  next 
annual  session  of  th-e  Grand  Lodge,"  was  adopted. 


129 

The  opposition,  so  well  characterized  in  said 
report,  defeated  every  motion  that  the  rate  of 
assessment  for  the  coming  year  be  made  15, 
or  even  14  cents;  and  the  motion  that  it  remain 
at  13  cents  was  adopted.  Thus  another  year 
was  lost ! 

The  said  able,  elaborate  and  unanimous  report 
of  the  committee  had  been  printed  and  faithfully 
distributed  to  the  various  lodges  of  District  No. 
I,  by  its  indefatigable  secretary;  copies  were 
freely  sent  to  the  members  by  their  respective 
lodges  ;  and  the  eminent  chairman  of  that  com- 
mittee expressed  the  hope  that  "  as  our  represen- 
tatives are  mostly  business  men,  possessed  of 
sound,  practical  common  sense,  who  from  their 
daily  walks  of  life  knew  better  than  any  other 
class  of  men  that  figures  can  not  lie,  he  had  no 
reason  to  fear  the  final  result.  On  the  contrary, 
he  was  very  hopeful  that  this  *bone  of  conten- 
tion' would  soon  be  disposed  of,  so  far  as  Dis- 
trict No.  I  was  concerned,  in  a  manner  as  ration- 
al as  it  would  be  satisfactory.*'  {Reports  of  the 
members  of  the  Executive  Committee,  1882-1883, 
page  10 ) 

Vain  hope  !  Men  may  be  very  good  business 
men,  may  be  of  sound,  practical  common  sense, 


I30 

and  yet  understand  nothing  about  Life  Insur- 
ance.^2  'y\iq  majority  of  business  men  have  nei- 
ther time  nor  inclination   to  study  such  reports, 


12.  The  Boston  Globe  has  just  published  a  pamphlet  con- 
taining "Opinions  of  Eminent  Men  of  the  Country"  on  Life 
Insurance,  letters  and  interviews,  from  which  the  follow- 
ing quotations  are  in  point : 

**  I  hive  not  made  much  of  a  study  of  Life  Insurance.*' 
— Senator  Henry  M.  Teller,  (who  was  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior under  President  Arthur, 

"  I  know  very  little  about  Life  Insurance." — Postmaster 
Pearson. 

''I  have  not  paid  much  attention  to  Life  Insurance. — 
Mayor  Grace. 

"I  don't  know  anything  about  it." — W.  H.  Vanderbilt. 

"I  have  not  considered  the  matter  carefully." — David 
Dudley  Field. 

'*Like  many  other  business  men,  I  have  never  had  time 
to  thoroughly  examine  an  institution  in  which  I  have  confi- 
dence, and  in  which  I  carry  several  policies — C  A.  Lori- 
mer,  Chicago. 

'*  I  do  not  know  that  I  given  sufficient  attention  to 
the  subject  of  Life  Insurance  to  qualify  me  to  give  an 
opinion  that  would  be  worth  anything" — E.'  H.  Capen, 
President  Taft's  College. 

* '  If  I  had  any  wisdom  on  the  life  insurance  question,  you 
should  certainly  have  it." — Rev.  M.  J.  Savage  of  Boston. 

"  Life  Insurance  is  a  subject  which  has  never  received 
very  careful  attention  from  me." — Bishop  Wingfield  of  Cal. 

**  Upon  this  subject  I  really  have  no  knowledge  what- 
ever, though  insured  for  $21,000."— P.  B.  Plumb,  U.  S. 
Senator  of  Kansas. 


131 

much  less  the  figures  of  mortality  tables  and 
their  calculations  ;  they  can  not  easily  com- 
prehend how  a  tax  which  is  all-sufficient  for 
present  wants,  and  besides  that,  yields  an 
annual  surplus,  gradually  increasing  to  several 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  should  need  still  more 
of  an  increase. 

The  committee  hoped  to  convince  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  justice  of  its  proposition  by 
showing  that  in  any  sound  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany a  man  of  the  average  age  of  our  members 
would  have  to  pay  a  much  greater  tax.  But 
other  fraternal  organizations  and  assessment  in- 

*'  I  have  not  given  the  matter  of  Life  Insurance  that  at- 
tention."— E.  A.  Peiry,  Governor  of  Florida. 

*•  I  have  not  given  sufficient  study  to  Life  Insurance.*' — 
Gen.  Slocum  of  New  York. 

**  I  am  in  no  sense  an  expert  in  the  matter  of  Life  Insu- 
rance. " — G.  D.  Morgan  of  New  York. 

*'  I  am  too  busy  to  go  deeply  into  the  subject  of  Life  In- 
surance just  now." — A.  B.  Farcuharof  Penn. 

*' I  insured  because.... .all  classes  of  successful  men  in- 
sure. Many  of  these  men  know  much  more  than  I  do.  I 
am  glad  to  take  their  advice."— E.  R.  Wheelock  of  N.  Y. 

"I  have  net  sufficient  knowledge,  etc." — Senator  Gib- 
son of  La. 

'  I  have  never  made  any  careful  study  .of  the  subject.  "— 
Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Comm.  U.  S.  Civil  Service. 

But  they  all  recognize  its  benefits  and— insure. 


132 

surance  societies,^  offer  larger  benefits  at  lower 
rates  and  charge  the  old  system  of  life  insurance 
as  faulty  in  the  extreme*  Which  is  right  ?  Even 
with  those  brethren  who  fully  recognize  that  the 
tax  of  13  cents  is  insufficient  and  who  gave  the 
subject  earnest  thought,  the  proper  amount  to  be 
paid  is  mere  guesswork  ;  some  propose  18  cents, 
others  16  cents,  still  others  would  be  satisfied 
with  15  cents.  Which  amount  is  correct  ?  which 
is  wrong  ?  For  it  would  be  just  as  wrong  to  ex- 
act too  much  as  not  enough. 

In  matters  of  mathematical  science,  common 
sense  alone  cannot  be  relied  upon  ;  guesswork 
will  not  inspire  confidence.  But  "  why  not 
adopt  a  system  based  upon  scientific  calculation 
and  fitted  to  our  peculiar  condition  by  competent 
minds  ?  Such  a  one  is  in  successful  operation 
in  District  No.  2,  and  under  the  circumstances  I 
deem  best  that  it  be  incorporated  in  the  laws  of 
all  other  Districts.*'  This  was  the  advice  of 
Bro*  Julius  Bierty  whose  wonderfully  clear  head, 
broad  and  deep  erudition,  coupled  with  the 
most  unselfish  devotion  to  the  Order,  entitle  him, 
beyond  dispute,  to  be  its  chief  and  monitor. 
Unfortunately,  his  words  are  not  read  by  the 
majority  and  are  remembered  by  but  few  ;  un- 


^33 

fortunately,  *iriost  every  representative  imagines 
his  own  mind  **so  clear  in  his  great  office'*  that 
it  renders  him  wise  enough  to  decide  every  ques- 
tion— whether  of  law,  finance,  mathematics  or 
any  other  science  ;  according  to  the  German 
adage : 

"  Wen  Gott  giebt  ein  Amt, — giebt  er  auch  Verstand/* 
Aware  of  this  weakness  in  many  representatives 
and  of  the  want  of  any  precise  scientific  demon- 
stration as  to  the  amount  required,  the  President 
of  District  No.  i  in  his  opening  Message  to  the 
Grand  Lodge, — referring  to  the  report  of  the 
Special  Committee  on  Endowment,  the  consider- 
ation of  which  had  been  deferred  to  that  session; 
— Jan.,  1884,  said  as  follows  : 

•*  It  is  evident  that  the  rate  of  assessment  now  being 
.  paid  is  insufficient,  and  that  an  increase  is  absolutely 
necessary;  What  the  extent  of  that  increase  should 
be^  //  is  for  you  to  detenniney  and,  whilst  the 
amount  recommended  by  the  special  committee  may 
be,  for  the  present,  larger  than  is  absolutely  necessary, 
some  figure  greater  than  that  which  we  are  now  pay- 
ing should  be  adopted."  .  .  .  **  If,  then,  it  is  your 
desire  that  Endowment  shall  remain  a  permanent  fea- 
ture of  the  District,  you  must  make  it  so  by  such 
legislation  as  will  render  its  continuance  absolutely 
certain.     I  can  see  but  one  alternative,  and  that  is,  to 


134 

eliminate  the  Endowment  entirely  from  the  work  of 
the  District,  creating  either  a  distinct  endowment  fund, 
or  leaving  it  optional  with  the  lodges  themselves 
whether  or  not  they  desire  to  avail  themselves  of  such 
a  benefit.'' 

How  little  effect  these  wise  words  of  the  Pre- 
sident, or  the  able  and  elaborate  representation 
of  the  matter  in  the  Special  Committee's  report, 
had  on  the  members  or  on  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee on  W.  and  O,  fund,  is  shown  by  the  re- 
port of  the  latter,  who  recommended,  by  a  vote 
of  four  to  one,  that  the  endowment  tax  be  in- 
creased one  cent,  making  it  14  cents,  and  saying: 
"  that,  while  not  making  the  burden  too  heavy, 
it  still  will  constantly(?)  and  gradually  increase 
our  reserve  fund." 

"  We  heartily  agree  (S.  B.  Hamburger  dissent- 
ing,) in  the  recommendation  of  the  increase  in 
the  per  capita  tax  of  one  cent,  making  the  same 
14  cents  for  the  coming  year,  believing  the  in- 
crease will  aid  in  strengthening  the  reserve 
fund,  so  that  in  time  we  will  have  an  endowment 
fund,  the  stability  of  which  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned." 

Had  this  committee  added:  provided  our  mem- 
bership remains  or  will  exceed  9000,  and,  provi- 


J55 

ded  further,  that  the  payment  of  said  tax  be  col- 
lected on  the  death  of  every  member,  not  limited 
as  to  the  number  of  deaths  which  may  occur ;  in 
such  case,  of  course,  the  stability  of  the  Endow- 
ment Fund  and  the  constant  increase  of  its  re- 
serve would  be  beyond  question.  But  as  the 
committee  knew  that,  according  to  the  Endow- 
ment law  of  District  No.  i,  the  Endowment  for 
all  deaths  exceeding  one  and  one-quarter  per 
cent,  of  the  number  of  members,  was  to  be  paid 
out  of  the  reserve  fund  ;  and  as  by  this  time  it 
ought  to  have  known  that,  with  the  increasing 
age  of  the  members,  their  mortality  would  also 
increase,  the  committee  might  easily  have  seen 
that  the  stability  of  which  they  talked  was  not 
only  questionable,  but  impossible.  Without  con- 
sulting any  mortality  tables,  and  by  merely  look- 
ing at  the  statistics  of  their  own  District,  they 
might  have  seen  that:  while  in  1874,  39  out  of 
6568  members  died,  as  early  as  1883  106  died 
out  of  91 1 1  members  ;  the  death  rate  gradually 
increasing,  from  6  to  12  out  of  every  1000  mem- 
bers. Thus,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  assume 
that,  after  another  decennium,  or  perhaps  later, 
the  death  rate  would  increase  2  per  cent. ;  how 
would  the  account  then  stand  ?     If  the  member- 


J  3^ 

ship  increase  to  10,000,  there  would  be  200 
deaths  in  one  year;  amount  of  Endor/ments  to 
be  paid,  $200,000  ;  125  deaths,  being  assessed 
for  14  cents  from  10,000  members,==$i 75,000, 
weakening  the  reserve  fund  by  a  deficit  of  $25,- 
000.  If  the  membership  were  to  decrease,  say 
to  8000  members,  there  would  be  160  deaths  in 
one  year,  requiring  for  endowments  to  be  paid 
$160,000,  while  the  assessments  for  100  deaths 
(i^  per  cent.,)  at  14  cents  would  yield  scarcely 
$112,000,  causing  a  deficit  of  $48,000. 

Hence  it  required  but  little  foresight  and  fore- 
thought to  prognosticate  that :  far  from  having 
an  Endowment  Fund  the  stability  of  which 
could  not  be  questioned,  there  would,  at  a  time, 
not  very  remote  either,  be  no  Endowment  Fund 
whatever  left. 

Bro.  S.  B.  H  mburger,  the  chairman  of  said 
committee  on  the  W.  and  O.  committee's  report, 
accordingly  wrote  as  follows  :  "  I  must  dissent 
from  the  recommendations  of  my  brethren  to  in- 
crease the  *  per  capita  tax '  one  cent,  and  cannot 
agree  with  their  views,  that  it  will  strengthen  the 
reserve  fund,  that  the  stability  thereof  cannot  be 
questioned.  I  believe  that  the  endowment  sys- 
tem, as  it  exists  at  the  present  time,  is  wholly 


137 

insufficient  to  secure  to  the  junior  members  of 
our  Order,  the  Endowment  which  is  guaranteed 
them  by  the  Constitution.  To  the  end  of  setting 
at  rest  forever  the  constant  interminable  discus- 
sion on  the  subject,  I  respectfully  recommend 
that  the  present  Grand  Lodge  adopt  such  legis- 
lation as  «vill  repeal  all  laws  contained  in  the 
District  Grand  Lodge  Laws,  affecting  the 
subject  of  endowment,  and  that  we  recommend 
to  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge,  the  repeal  of 
the  entire  Endowment  Law,  and  thus  leave  the 
perplexing  question  of  endowment  to  the  respect- 
ive Lodges,  to  be  controlled  and  governed  as 
they  may  deem  fit  and  proper." 

"Should  however  this  recommendation  not 
meet  your  favor,  I  further  recommend,  for  the 
benefit  of  those  brethren  who  may  depart  this  life 
within  the  next  ten  years,  that  the  "  per  capita 
tax  "  be  increased  at  least  to  the  sum  of  sixteen 
cents.  This  amount  of  increase  may  seem 
exorbitant  and  burdensome.  It  will  not  be  if 
those  of  us  who  are  members  of  three  or  four 
organizations,  kindred  to  our  own,  will  cease  to 
become  members  therein,  or  abolish  the  endow- 
ment." 

The  discussion  of  these   reports  and  of  the 


Endowment  questions  in  general  lasted  until 
past  midnight  of  the  G.  L,  Session,  January  28th, 
1884,  and  was  resumed  on  the  following  day;  at 
4  P.  M.,  as  agreed,  the  vote  was  taken,  first  on 
the  motion  "  to  disagree  with  both  reports  and 
to  leave  the  'per  capita  tax'  at  13  cents."  This 
motion  was  lost  by  one  vote,  (48  ayes,  49  nays). 
Finally  the  motion  to  concur  in  the  majority 
report  of  the  W.  and  O,  Committee,  to  make  the 
tax  14  cents,  was  adopted  (50  ayes  against  48 
nays). 

Thus  the  first  victory  was  won,  the  first  little 
step  was  taken  towards  an  improvement  of  the 
Endowment  System  in  District  No.  i,  quite  in- 
sufficient to  make  it  permanently  enduring,  yet 
important  as  the  first  defeat  of  the  persistent 
opposition  against  the  least  increase,  and  giving 
stronger  hopes  for  further  improvement  in  the 
right  direction.  Moreover,  another  amendment 
was  adopted  during  the  last  hour  of  that  same 
session — almost  without  discussion — which 
amendment  (proposed  by  the  representative  of 
Washington  Lodge)  is  of  far  greater  value  than 
an  increase  of  the  tax  and  by  an  additional  cent 
would  have  been,  namely:  raising  the  per  centage 
of   mortality,   for   which   assessments  are  to  be 


^39 

collected,  from  one  and  one  quarter  to  one  and 
one  half  per  cent;  so  that  Endowments  in  excess 
of  one  and  one  half  per  cent  of  the  number  of 
members,  in  any  one  year,  should  be  paid  out  of 
the  Reserve-Fund. 

By  this  amendment  the  Endowment  fund 
would  be  enduring  for  at  least  20  years! 

Far  from  advocating  the  said  rate  and  limita- 
tion,— as  it  has  serious  defects, — it  might  be 
desirable,  in  view  of  the  present  agitation  in 
some  Lodges,  to  show  by  careful  arithmancy 
how  this  system  would  work,  even  were  no  fur- 
ther improvements  to  be  made  and  not  a  single 
new  member  added.  But  a  table  to  this  effect, 
with  its  many  columns  of  figures,  would  not  be 
examined  by  one  out  of  hundreds  of  our  brethren 
and  would  scarcely  merit  the  sacrifice  of  time 
and  the  large  space  it  would  necessarily  occupy. 
This  laborious  calculation  would  be,  moreover, 
of  \\i\\t  practical  vdihxQy  from  the  fact  that  the  14 
cents  "per  capita  tax"  would  sometimes  amount 
to  less  than  $15  assessment  per  year,  whilst  the 
law  lately  adopted  by  the  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge  precludes  any  rate  which  would  produce 
less  than  that  amount. 

The  readers  of  this  study  will  therefore  prefer 


140 

to  take  my  word  for  it  that  said  calculation 
proves:  that  the  present  "per  capita  tax'*  of  14 
cents  would  be  sufficient,  not  only  "  for  the  bene- 
fit of  those  brethren  who  may  depart  this  life 
within  the  next  ten  years"  but  for  the  next 
twenty  years;  and  this  without  assuming  any 
accession  of  young  members,  thus  advancing  the 
age  annually  one  year,  and  diminishing  the 
number  surviving  at  the  rate  established  by  the 
American  Table  of  Mortality.  During  the  first 
ten  years  the  assessment  would  increase  with  the 
growing  mortality  to  nearly  $18.00  (to  128 
deaths  at  14  cents),  and  the  reserve  fund,  from 
surplus,  (so-called)  and  from  interest  at  5  per 
cent,  to  over  half  a  million  dollars.  At  the  end 
of  the  20th  year  $1,120,000  would  have  been 
paid  ottt  to  the  Wfdows  and  Orphans  or  desig- 
nated beneficiaries  of  our  brethren,  of  District 
No.  I,  who  may  have  died  during  that  period, 
but  then,  in  the  21st  year  not  a  dollar  would  be 
left  of  that  reserve  fund,  yet  about  6100  mem- 
bers surviving,  whose  average  would  be  beyond 
sixty,  their  mortality  over  200,  while  their  pay- 
ments, in  death -assessments,  restricted  to  i^ 
per  cent  of  that  number,  would  produce  about 
$67,000  only  scarce  enough  for  one  third  of  the 


141 

Endowments  which  would  become  due  in  that 
year. 

Would  not  an  increase  of  the  "per  capita  tax" 
to  15  cents  on  each  members'  death,  up  to  i^ 
per  cent,  taking  into  account  the  admission  of 
new  members,  replacmg  those  lost  by  death  and 
lapses,  be  sufficient?  And  would  not  this  secure 
annual  assessments  amounting  to  not  less  than 
fifteen  dollars. 

To  determine  whether  this  or  that  rate  of  as- 
sessment would  secure  stability  to  the  Endow- 
ment fund  requires  something  more  than  a  mere 
expression  of  opinion — mathematical  proof  is 
necessary. 

At  each  of  our  Grand  Lodge  meetings  the 
most  conflictmg  opinions  have  been  expressed  ; 
some  asserting  the  present  rate  to  be  ample  for 
the  fulfilment  of  our  promises  and  obligations, 
now  and  in  the  future  ;  others,  seriously  doubt- 
ing the  safety  of  the  Endowment,  fearing  their 
payment  to  be  productive  of  only  further  ex- 
pense without  any  compensating  benefit,  and 
predicting  an  early  and  disgraceful  failure.  But 
neither  side  had  figured  out  the  matter ;  they 
all  simply  "  believed  "  and  "  supposed  "  and 
*' thought"  or  "  were  told."     One  generally  re- 


142 

lies  on  the  low  rates  held  out  as  inducement  by 
Assessment  Life  Associations,  some  of  which 
are  now,  apparently,  very  prosperous  ;  the  other 
judges  from  the  high  rates  a  person  of  the  aver- 
age age  of  our  members  would  have  to  pay  in 
any  sound  Life  Insurance  Company. 

True,  it  seems  to  require  but  little  arithmetic 
and  not  much  good  common  sense  to  know,  that 
to  pay  $1000  at  the  death  of  every  member, 
their  contributions  should  be  equal  to  an  amount 
which,  accumulating  at  compound  interest, 
would  produce  $1000  during  the  number  of 
years  they  are  expected  to  live ;  and  as  the  aver- 
age age  of  our  members  in  District  No.  i  is  45 
years,  and  the  expected  life  duration  at  such  age 
averages  24  years,  $21.41  per  annum  is  the 
amount  which, — accumulating  at  5  per  cent, 
interest — would  in  24  years  produce  $1000.  It 
may,  however,  be  claimed  that  this  amount 
would  not  be  enough,  considering  that  the  pay- 
ment of  Endowments  for  members  who  die 
prematurely  must  produce  a  loss  whereby  the 
accumulation  is  materially  diminished.  Nor  can 
it  be  denied  that  the  accession  of  new,  younger 
members,  produce  considerable  retardation  in 
the   advance   of   Age,  and  thereby  affects  the 


143 

resu4t.  Careful  calculation,  wherein  all  these 
factors  are  taken  into  account,  is  therefore  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  find  the  proper  and  mathe- 
matically correct  remedy. 

In  an  article  which  appeared  in  The  Ameri- 
can Hebrew  of  May  8th,  (vol.  22,  No.  13,  p. 
194,)  under  the  heading  ^^Make  it  Optional^''  it  is 
**  taken  for  granted  that  the  Endowment  system, 
as  now  existing  in  District  No.  i,  is  unsafe  ;  and 
that  the  promise  to  pay  to  the  heirs  of  all  of 
the  9000  members  $1000  cannot  be  fulfilled  ; 
that  the  tables  of  mortality  used  by  the  insurance 
companies  are  safe  guides  in  this  matter  ;  that 
the  system  of  assessing  all  members  alike,  irres- 
pective of  differences  in  age,  is  mathematically 
inaccurate  and  unjust.  All  this  is  admitted  and 
has  been  fully  shown  in  this  study  ;  but  the  said 
article  further  asserts,  that  it  would  require  a 
rate,  determined  by  the  average  age  of  the 
members,  **such  as  the  poor  men  would  be  un 
able  to  pay  and  the  young  men  would  be  un- 
willing to  pay,  as  they  could  secure  cheaper  in- 
surance in  safe  insurance  companies."  This  is 
not  correct. 

A  uniform  annual  rate  of  $18,  equal  to  5  cents 
per  day — which  is  the  rate  adopted  in   District 


r 


144 

No.  2 — is  not  beyond  the  ability  of  any  poor 
man,  and  is  a  lower  rate  than  any  safe  Life 
Insurance  Company  would  charge  for  an  insur- 
ance  of  $1000  to  a  person  above  the  age  of 
32.  And  the  young  men  of  that  District  express 
themselves  quite  willing  to  pay  this  rate  ;  they 
opposed  a  reduction  to  $15  as  asked  by  some  0;ld 
members ;  the  young  men  cheerfully  contribute 
the  |3  more  for  the  benefit  of  their  old  brothers' 
widows  and  orphans,  for  whose  benefit  they 
would  be  taxed  were  there  no  Endowment  Fund. 

The  young  members  of  District  No.  i  will 
scarcely  be  less  charitably  inclined,  much  less 
would  they  withdraw  from  the  Order  for  the 
sake  of  $3  per  year,  or  i  cent  per  day  more  than 
their  own  age  alone  might  require,  provided 
they  could  thereby  secure  the  safety  and  per- 
manency of  the  Endowment. 

The  advice  to  "  Make  the  Endowment  op- 
tional "  will  not  prevail,  if  the  question  be  pro- 
perly considered  how  the  duty  of  providing  for 
and  assisting  the  widows  and  orphans  of  our 
brethren  could  best  be  performed.  This  duty  is 
imperative  and  inalienable. 

Wolf*s  resolution,  adopted  and  made  law  by 
the   Constitution   Grand   Lodge,  never  contem- 


145 

plated  "leaving  the  Endowment  optional  with 
such  lodges  or  members  as  may  desire  to  parti- 
cipate." It  merely  left  it  to  the  option  of  each 
District  Grand  Lodge  to  have  or  not  have  an 
Endowment  system.  The  proposed  Endowment 
Law,  endorsed  by  a  resolution  of  said  Constitu- 
tion Grand  Lodge,  recommended  that  partici 
pation  be  made  optional  for  young  unmarried 
men,  until  they  either  got  married  or  reached 
the  age  of  35.  This  seems  the  utmost  extent 
for  a  practically  safe  and  just  optional  feature. 
It  would  at  the  same  time  obviate  the  complaint 
that  members  below  the  age  of  32  are  charged 
too  high  a  rate,  and  those  who  would  leave  the 
Order  for  this  reason — would  be  no  loss.  The 
Grand  Lodge  might  also  permit  those  who  con- 
sider the  tax  of  $18  too  burdensome,  to  pay  half 
that  rate  only  for  the  proportionate  part  ($500) 
of  the  benefit. 

The  Tables  herewith  presented  show  that — 
assuming  the  well  established  rates  of  mortality 
and  other  factors,  hereinafter  explained — an  en- 
during solution  of  the  Endowment  problem  may 
be  reached  at  the  rate  of  $18  per  annum,  and 
that  even  a  15  cts.  per  capita  tax  would  probably 
not  result  in  deficiency  for  many  years  to  come. 


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154 

This  computation,  though  requiring  a  great 
deal  of  figuring,  can  be  comprehended,  examined 
and  corroborated  by  any  person  familiar  with 
ordinary  commercial  calculations.  To  facilitate 
a  better  understanding  of  these,  however,  a  kind 
and  careful  consideration  of  the  following  ex- 
planatory remarks  is  solicited  : 

Under  the  laws  of  nature,  heavenly  ordained, 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance, — the  human 
mind,  ignorant  of  the  future,  can  merely 
draw  conclusions  from  observations  of  the  past, 
as  to  what  the  probability  or  chance  may  be 
hereafter.  From  observation  we  know  that,  to 
every  individual,  death  is  only  a  question  of 
time;  the  Psalmist  already  observed  "our  years 
are  three  score  and  ten,  etc."  From  a  large 
field  of  long  and  continued  observations  we  can 
compute  how  many  out  of  a  hundred  thousand 
persons  of  a  certain  age  will  probably  die  within 
one  year;  but  no  mortal  can  say  who;  hence  the 
probability  becomes  more  and  more  uncertain  as 
we  may  attempt  to  apply  the  proportion  to  a 
smaller  number.  But  while  there  may  be  slight 
deviations  from  the  death-rate  when  applied  to 
about  9000  members  only — it  may  be  less  in  one 
year  and  more  in  another, — the  mortality  table 


155 

may,  on  the  whole,  be  safely  relied  upon. 

In  many  cases,  however,  it  would  be  very 
deceptive  to  assume  that  "  what  has  happened 
in  a  large  number  of  instances  in  the  past,  may 
be  accepted  as  a  fact  to  determine  the  average 
result  of  a  series  of  coming  events  with  precision." 
The  most  deceitful  schemes  of  cheap  insurance 
are  built  on  such  misleading  assumptions. 

The  Tables  presented  in  this  study  are 
arithmancies  for  District  No.  i,  based  on  no 
unfounded  suppositions;  and  yet,  their  figures 
are  vatxtXy  probabilities  which  maybe  safely  relied 
upon  to  prove  realities. 

Thus,  the  membership,  which  at  present  is 
nine  and  a  quarter  thousand,  is  assumed  to 
remain  numerically  unchanged  for  a  long 
period.  During  the  last  20  years  our  Order  has 
increased  from  5900  to  25000  members;  from 
1865  to  1880  the  addition  of  new  members  in 
District  No.  i,  averaged  about  380  annually; 
since  1880,  however,  the  accession  ^to  our  ranks 
diminished  to  such  an  extent  that  no  one 
acquainted  with  the  facts  would  now  assume  a 
continued  large  increase  for  the  future.  As  has 
already  been  stated  in  the  former  pages  of  this 
study,  *'the  history  of  every  social  organization 


XS6 

in  the  past  has  shown  that  there  comes  a  time 
when  it  is  impossible  to  increase  the  member- 
ship;'* but  history  further  proves  that  all  well 
organized  and  properly  managed  associations, 
established  for  good  and  legitimate  purposes 
and  on  a  sound  basis,  are,  for  centuries,  able  to 
fill  the  gaps,  created  by  deaths  and  discontinu- 
ance, and  to  replace  them  by  new  members. 
Hence  it  would  be  deceptive  to  assume  an  in- 
crease of  membership  for  the  future,  but  it  may 
be  considered  as  of  the  highest  probability,  that 
new  members  will  supply  the  places  of  those  who 
die  and  lapse.  Should  the  membership  increase, 
this  would  not  affect  the  result,  except  that  the 
limit  of  annual  assessments,  proposed  in  Table 
I,  would  be  reached  sooner,  and  if  that  amount 
($i8)  be  deficient,  the  greater  accession  of  new 
members  would  but  delay  the  failure. 

The  AGE,  as  shown  in  column  i  of  both 
Tables  I  and  II,  is  computed  on  the  said 
probability  of  maintaining  the  present  number 
of  members,  replacing  those  who  die  and  lapse 
by  new  members.  13 

13.  It  starts  with  age  45,  this  being  the  lowest  estimate  of 
the  present  average  age  of  the  members  of  District  No.  i. 
It  is  probably  nearer  46  years. 


157 

The  fallacious  assumption  that  the  average 
age  of  our  membership  could  always  be  main- 
tained stationary  by  any  probable  "  infusion  of 
young  blood  "  has  been  repeatedly  confuted  in 
this  study;  but  it  is  not  disputed  that,  by  an 
increase  in  membership  or  by  replacing  those 
who  die  with  younger  members,  the  advance  in 
average  age  would  be  proportionately  retard- 
ed. Arithmetically  calculated  the  result  is  as 
follows:  If  in  one  year  out  of  looo  members  12 
die,  whose  average  age  is  55,  and  these  are 
replaced  by  12  new  members  whose  average 
age  is  30,  there  would  be  a  gain  of  12X25=300 
years,  reducing  the  advance  during  that  one 
year  from  1000  to  700  years,  hence  the  average 
age  would  increase  7-10  instead  of  one  whole 
year;  if  17  die  out  of  1000  members,  and  are 
replaced  by  as  many  new  members  each  about 
30  years  younger  than  those  who  died,  the 
advance  in  average  age  would  be  reduced 
one  half;  and  when  the  death-rate  reaches  2iZ 
out  of  1000,  and  those  departing  are  replaced 
by  members  30  years  younger,  then  the  average 
age  may  remain  almost  stationary.  The  substi- 
tution of  new  younger  members  for  older  ones 
who  lapse  would  also  serve  to  somewhat  retard 
the  advance  in  average  age. 


158 

The  RATE  OF  ASSESSMENT  is  assumed  (in 
Table  I,  column  4)  to  be  at  first  15  cents  per 
capita  for  every  death.  This  is  the  rate  most 
likely  to  be  adopted  by  the  Grand  Lodge, 
were  it  only  to  comply  with  the  law  passed  by 
the  late  Convention  prescribing  a  minimum 
annual  assessment  of  $15  for  every  one  thous- 
and dollars.  In  the  seventh  year,  when  the 
mortality  will  be  about  one  and  one  quarter  per 
cent,  this  rate  would  produce  an  annual  assess- 
ment of  $18;  and  in  ten  years  the  mortality  will 
reach  15  out  of  1000,  or  one  and  one  half  per 
cent  (which  is  the  limit  of  assessment  in 
District  No.  i),  the  annual  assessment  would  then 
be  $20.  At  this  rate,  and  assuming  the  member- 
ship to  continue  undiminished,  the  Reserve  fund 
would  amount  in  40  years,  at  5  per  cent  interest^ 
to  nearly  three  million  dollars  ($2,988,300.)  ♦ 
But  this  would  be  more  than  necessary,  and  we 
may  well  suppose  that  a  demand  to  limit  the 
annual  assessments  to  $18  would  become  irre- 
sistible. Were  the  membership  of  District  No. 
I,  to  increase  to  10,000,  which  is  certainly 
possible,  a  mortality  of  but  1 5^  per  cent  would 
already  produce  an  annual  assessment  of  over 
$18. 


1  159 

Table  I,  therefore,  calculates  the  amounts  of 
assessments  (shown  in  column  5)  at  $18  from 
the  eighth  to  the  thirtieth  year,  and,  deducting 
therefrom  the  Endowments  to  be  paid  (column 
6),  it  gives  in  column  seven  the  difference — the 
surplus  received  during  the  first  half  of  that 
period,  and  the  excess  paid  during  the  second 
half,  when  the  Endowments  will  exceed  the 
revenue  from  assessments. 

Table  II,  calculates  the  assessments  at  %i8 
from  the  beginnings  and  in  all  other  respects  it  is 
the  same  as  table  I, 

The  INTEREST  on  the  reserve,  earned  each 
year  at  five  per  cent^4  is  shown  in  the  eighth 


14..  The  rate  of  interest  has  decreased,  but  5  per  cent  are 

still  safely  obtainable  on  real  estate  loans,  as  evidenced  by 

the  income  of  the  largest  financial  institutions  of  the  East 

derived  from  that  source: 

The  Mutual  Life  of  N.  Y.  earned  in  1884  on  gross 

assets    amounting    to    $103,583,301;     interest    etc., 

$5,245,060. 

The  Equitable  of  N.  Y.  earned  in  1884,  on  gross  assets 

amounting  to  $58,161,926;  interest  etc.,  $2,972,150. 
The  New  York  Life  of  N.  Y.,   earned  in    1884,  on 
gross  assets  amounting  to  $58,941,739;  interest   etc., 
$2,873,390. 
The  Connecticut  Mutual  of  Hartford,  earned  in  1884 


1 60 

column;  and — deducting  the  Endowments  paid 
from  assessment  and  interest  received  during 
the  same  year,  and  adding  the  difference  to  the 
reserve  of  the  preceding  year, — the  result  is 
found  in  the  ninth  (9th)  column;  showing  at  the 
end  of  the  30th  year  in  Table  I,  an  accumulated 
reserve  fund  of  $1,700,000;  in  Table  II,  one  of 
nearly  two  million  dollars. 

Looking  carefully  at  the  annexed  Tables,  it 
will  be  seen  at  once  that  the  amounts  received 
from  assessments,  in  excess  of  Endowments  to  be 


on  gross  assets   amounting  to  $53,430,033;   interest 

etc.,  $2,794,578. 
Loans  on  real  estate  secutity,  carefully  and  judiciously 
made  are  the  best  mode  of  investments  for  our  Reserve 
funds;  no  other  form  of  property  has  such  inherent  strength 
and  value,  it  is  the  foundation  and  source  of  all  other 
values.  Real  property  may,  at  times,  not  find  a  purchaser 
at  any  price,  but  in  due  time  it  rises  to  its  proper  place, 
and  it  the  loan  were  judiciously  made,  at  about  half  of 
what  was  a  fair  valuation,  no  loss  is  to  be  apprehended. 

Some  would  prefer  U.  S.  Bonds  for  the  investments  of 
our  Endowment  funds,  a  mode  by  far  easier  for  its  managers, 
undoubtedly  safe  and  always  convertible  into  cash.  But 
they  who  favor  such  investments  do  not  know  what  great 
difference  the  rate  of  interest  would  make  in  the  required 
rate  of  assessment.  This  important  factor  is  but  too  often 
overlooked  or  disregarded. 


i6i 

paid  will  be  annually  decreaszng^n  while  the 
amounts  derived  from  interest  on  the  Reserve 
fund  are  annually  increasing^  hence  the  difference 
in  the  rate  of  interest  would  in  time  balance  the 
apparently  excessive  difference  in  the  rate  of 
assessments. 

Both  tables  further  show  that  after  30  years 
the  average  age  of  60,  and  the  so-called  station- 
ary point  would  be  reached,  provided  always 
that  the  membership  remains  numerically  the 
same  by  continually  replacing  those  who  die 
and  withdraw  with  a  like  number  of  new  mem- 
bers, but  if  no  new  members  were  to  join  then 
the  reserve-fund,  however  large,  would  soon 
decline  with  the  decrease  of  membership  and 
consequent  natural  increase  in  age  and  mortal- 
ity. It  might  be  assumed  by  some  brethren 
that  accessions  of  new  members  would  never 
cease  in  our  Order,  as  they  never  ceased,  for 
centuries,  among  Free  Masons.  I  do  not 
question  the  perpetuity  of  our  beloved  Order, 


15.  The  Endowments  to  be  paid  exceed  the  assessments 
at  f  18  in  the  eighteenth  year,  if  the  assessments  were  cal- 
culated at  $21  it  would  take  only  four  years  longer,  before 
the  death-rate  would  exceed  the  annual  receipts  from 
assessments. 


t62 

but  I  deem  it  possible,  if  not  probable,  that  it 
may  at  some  future  time  adopt  a  different 
system  of  providing  for  our  Widows  and  Or- 
phans. And  it  may  come  to  pass — although 
$i8  is  a  very  low  rate  for  insurance  of  $1000 
on  the  life  of  persons  above  the  age  of  30,  and 
though  our  youngest  men  are  quite  willing  to 
pay  in  favor  of  their  old  brethren,  remembering 
that  they  also  hope  to  get  old — it  may  occur,  I 
say,  that  young  lodges  with  new  young  mem- 
bers would  prefer  to  form  an  Endowment 
scheme  or  a  class  of  their  own;  and  that  from 
such  or  any  other  cause  the  winding  up  of  the 
old  Endowment  fund  may  become  necessary. 

Finally  it  is  thus  only  that  the  question  can  be 
solved,  arithmetically,  whether  the  seemingly 
very  large  reserve  fund  would  be  more  than 
needed  or  insufficient  to  pay  every  Endowment 
as  it  would  be  required.  Even  admitting  that 
there  may  never  be  a  last  member,  I  must 
assume  a  terminal  point,  as  this  presents  me  the 
means  of  solving  the  problem;  of  knowing 
whether  my  plan  is  correct  or  not; — just  as  the 
compass  cannot  make  a  circle  without  beginning 
and  closing  at  some  assumed  point,  though 
circles  have  no  terminal  points. 


i63 

The  second  half  of  Tables  I  and  II,  from  the 
30th  year  on,  are  therefpre  calculated  without 
assuming  any  further  addition  or  contribution  of 
new  members. 

The  AGE  (column  i)  would  then  increase 
annually  one  year,  were  it  not  that,  by  the  death 
of  the  oldest  members,  the  advance  in  average 
age  would  naturally  be  somewhat  less  than  one 
year,  as  shown  in  this  column  ;^^  and  columns 
3  and  3  give  the  mortality  and  number  of 
deaths  annually  reached. 

The  LAPSES  (column  4)  come  then  also  into 
account,  as  they  are  no  longer  assumed  to  be 
replaced  by  new  members.  Experience  places 
the  withdrawals  and  suspensions  in  our  Order 
at  about  two  of  every  hundred  members  annually 
but  with  old  members  who  belonged  for  many 
years  to  the  Order  scarce  one  half  the  number 
of  lapses  can  safely  be  assumed.  The  member- 
ship, annually  diminished  by  deaths  and  lapses 
is  given  in  column  5. 

16.  Deduct  from  1000  at  age  6o=aggregate  60,000,  the 
26  who  died  in  one  year  at  average  age  70="!  820  years, 
and  add  i  year  from  each  of  the  surviving  974  members — 
their  aggregate  age  will  be  59,154  years  being  equal  to  age 
63.8. 


164 

The  annual  assessments  are  advanced  to  $20. 
This  increase  of  50  cents  per  quarter  year,  would 
certainly  not  be  objected  to  at  that  remote 
period,  when  the  average  age  of  the  members 
would  exceed  60  years,  and  the  rate  of  interest 
may  probably  have  declined  to  4  per  cent.  The 
bubbles  of  cheap  insurance  of  to-day  will  then 
all  be  exploded  and  these  Tables  will  live  and 
be  acknowledged  a  safe  guide,  though  its 
author  be  probably  long  among  the  dead.  That 
$20  would  then  be  absolutely  required  is  proven 
by  the  figures  in  column  6^7.  On  the  other 
hand,  an  assessment  of  $18  annually  from 
now  on,  as  figured  in  Table  II,  may  be  relied 
upon  as  securing  the  permanent  soundness  of 
the  Endowment  fund  in  District  No.  i  ;  its 
reserve  fund  would,  at  the  end  of  the  60th  year 
be  still  sufficient  to  pay  to  every  members'  family 
the  promised  Endowment,  and  could  from  this 
time  on  relieve  all  its  members  above  the  age  of 
75  from  further  contributions;  a  measure  much 
to  be  desired. 


17.  From  the  members  who  die  and  from  those  who 
lapse  in  the  course  of  the  year  only  about  half  of  the  duies 
can  be  collected,  hence  these  are  reckoned  at  $10,  and 
those  surviving  and  continuing  at  $20. 


i65 

This  mode  of  assessment,  payable  regularly  at 
$1.50  each  month,  or  $4.50  quarterly,  is  so  very 
little  above  the  rate  at  15  cents  for  each  death 
during  the  first  years  and  would  be  soon  more 
than  $18  under  the  present  limit  of  i)^  per  cent 
mortality,  that  its  adoption  should  certainly 
prevail.  It  has  besides  many  other  advantages 
which  will  be  discussed  hereafter. 

I  hope  to  have  fully  and  satisfactorily  answered 
the  question  propounded,  as  to  what  rates  would 
be  sufficient  to  make  the  Endowment  fund  of 
District  No.  i  sound  and  enduring.  I  believe 
to  have  shown  by  figures,  the  most  probable 
future  results,  as  far  as  these  can  be  foretold; 
by  the  light  of  science  and  experience,  yet 
without  pretending  to  be  infallible,  without  pro- 
fessing to  prophesy.  I  hope  to  have  demon- 
strated that  the  apprehension  lest  our  Order  be 
unable  to  carry  out  its  pledges  to  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  its  members  are  almost  ground- 
less, that,  notwithstanding  the  shortcomings  of 
the  past,  in  not  sooner  providing  for  an 
adequate  reserve,  the  remedy  was  nearer  and 
easier  than  many  supposed; — that,  spite  of  the 
advanced  age  of  a  large  number  of  our  brethren 
in  this,  the   oldest   District,    a    future   annual 


i66 

assessment  of  $18,  would  be  sufficient  under 
circumstances  most  likely  to  prevail,  that  unless 
there  be  a  decline  in  membership,  this  rate  would 
be  reached  within  a  few  years,  even  at  a  15  cents 
'f^er  capita  tax,  and  much  sooner  if  the  member- 
ship were  to  increase.  A  little  reflection  will 
thus  reveal  the  fact  that  to  withdraw  from  the 
Order  would  tend  to  aggravate,  and  not  to 
remedy  the  evil,  and  that  mutual  self-interest,  if 
not  devotion  to  the  general  good,  would  dictate 
the  constant  maintenance  and  not  the  dissolu- 
tion of  our  membership.  That  the  latter  may 
never  again  be  used  as  a  threat,  is  one  among 
many  other  reasons  why  the  adoption  of  a  fixed 
contribution  of  $18  is  far  preferable  to  varying 
contributions  based  on  after-death  assessments. 

Those  brethren  who  still  are  not  disposed  to 
concede  the  necessity  of  adopting  the  rate  of 
$18  per  annum  as  Endowment  dues,  those  who 
will  neither  study  nor  believe  the  figures  here- 
with submitted  for  their  examination,  those  who 
still  think  that  a  better  and  cheaper,  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  safe  and  reliable  plan  of  assessment 
Life-insurance  could  be  devised—  to  those  I 
would  put  these  questions: 

Can  any  plan  furnish  insurance  at  less  than  cost  ? 


167 

Can  any  society  be  less  subject  to  **  fraudulent 
claims  "  than  our  lodges  ? 

Is  there  any  association  where  you  could  be  as  sure 
that  every  dollar  paid  in  will  be  used  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  pay  the  just  claims  of  our  deceased 
brethren,  as  with  our  own  chosen  trustees  ? 

Is  there  any  Society  or  form  of  Life  insurance  that 
can  be  as  economically  managed  as  our  Endowment 
Funds  ? 

Certainly,  whatever  the  defects  of  our  Endow- 
ment system  may  be,  no  dishonesty  or  mal- 
appropriation  of  its  funds  could  ever  be  charged 
to  its  trustees;  no  attempt  at  a  fraudulent  claim 
has  so  far  ever  been  made,  nor  has  any  honest 
claim  ever  been  resisted.  The  annual  expense 
of  management  is  about  30  cents  per  member! 
And  yet,  some  of  you  may  say  that  there  are 
associations  where  the  rates  for  men,  45  years  of 
age,  are  less  than  I  claim  to  be  required. 

Yes,  I  admit  there  are.  Let  me  take  the 
"Mutual  Reserve  Fund  Life  Association,"  of 
your  great  State  of  N.  Y.,  the  largest  and  most 
successful  of  all,  as  an  instance,  and  show  ic  to 
you  in  its  true  light.  I  will  not  question  the 
correctness  of  its  brilliant  statements;  I  will 
admit  the  great  energy  and  ability  displayed  in 
Its   management; — nor  will    I    doubt    that    its 


i68 

funds  are  carefully  and  honestly  managed  ;i8  i, 
will  not  even  ask  you  to  take  into  consideration 
the  fact  that  it  charges  $io  admission  fee  and 
one  year's  annual  dues  for  $1000,  then  $2 
annual  dues  for  expenses  after  the  first  year; 
but  I  will  show  you,  from  its  own  documents 
and  papers,  that  the  rate  must  increase  in  future 
years,  so  as  Svioner  or  later  to  force  its  mem- 
bers to  withdraw. 

In  a  little  book  of  *•  Endorsements,"  issued 
by  the  Mutual  Reserve  Fund  Life  Association  is 
one  from  the  celebrated  old  actuary,  Elizur 
Wright,  Ex-Insurance  Commissioner  of  Massa- 
chusetts,^9   wherein  he  says: 

"Your  assessment  rates   being   loaded   one- 


18.  Though  some  well-informed  persons  charge,  that  for 
every  $1000  paid  to  members,  $600  were  paid  to  managers, 
and  that  no  proper  account  of  expenses  is  rendered  in  its 
reports. 

19.  Hon.  Elizur  Wright  is  a  bitter  opponent  of  the  old 
system  of  life  insurance  and  has  done  much  to  improve  it. 
In  one  of  his  books  he  wrote:  **  Having  been  extensively 
used  as  a  sort  of  stool  pigeon,  in  years  gone  by,  when  my 
attention  was  more  directed  to  the  value  of  the  bait  than  to 
the  inconveniences  of  the  trap,  it  is  a  penitential  labor  with 
me  to  let  the  public  know  what,  in  my  judgment,  the 
matter  is  with  life  insurance.*' 


169 

third  above  the  American  mortality,  and  increas- 
ing according  to  the  scale  with  the  ages,  I 
regard  as  equitable  and  sufficient  to  provide  for 
the  death -claims  in  full,  after  reserving  one 
fourth  for  the  Reserve  fund."  And  with  regard 
to  the  assessments  becoming  large  and  oppres- 
sive to  the  insured  in  future  years,  he  says: 
"As  they  outgrow  the  need  of  insurance  they 
can  diminish  the  amount  insured,  from  year  to 
year,  or  retire  without  loss,  and  let  younger  men 
take  their  places.'* 

The  rates  of  said  association  are  graded 
according  to  age^^  and  are  based  on  the  cost 
under  the  natural  premium  plan,  of  which 
this  association  is  the  leading  exponent. 

In  the  "Society  Journal,"  a  monthly  issued 

20.    These  rates  are  :  at  Age  25,  $1.00  j  at  age  45,  $1.64 
**        30,  $1.10;         **      50,  $2.00 

**       35,|i-H;        **     55,  $3.25 
40,  $1.44;         ♦*      60,  $4.50 
"        65,  $7.00. 
Thus  at  age  45  ten  assessments  would  cost  $16.40  and 
$2.00  for  expenses=$i8.4o. 

No  assurance  is  given  as  to  the  number  of  assessments; 
it  is  merely  claimed  that  '*no  more  assessments  will  be 
called  for  than  is  required  for  the  payment  of  the  losses  and 
provitiing  for  the  Reserve  fund." 


under  the  auspices  of  that  Company,  you  can 
find  the  'Natural  Premium  system^  fully  explain- 
ed and  compared  with  the  level  or,  what  it  calls 
the  artificial  premium  plans.  I  extract  from  its 
hst  Oc  ober  number  the  following: 

"  The  man  who  insures  his  building  against 
damage  or  destruction  by  fire,  pays  such  a 
premium  cheerfully,  because  he  understands  it 
to  be  the  price  of  contingent  indemnity  and  that, 
whether  he  encounters  losses  or  not,  he  receives 
a  full  equivalent  of  protection  in  exchange.  He 
will  even  continue  to  pay  an  annually  increasing 
premium  without  protest  so  long  as  he  is  satis 
fied  that  the  increase  of  rate  [which  at  the  age 
of  75  is  $87.10  for  one  year?]  is  warranted  by 
increase  of  hazard  and  the  company's  neces- 
sities."2i *'that  the  rapid  increase  of  pre- 
mium  at  advanced  ages   would  deter  men  from 


21.  Knowing  that  these  rates  would  force  members  to  give 
up  their  insurance  when  they  get  old,  Mr.  B.  S.  Price  says, 
in  justification  thereof,  (in  "The  Guardian,"  a  semi- 
monthly devoted  to  the  interest  of  Assessment  Life  Insur- 
ance, April  25,  1885):  "  Insurances  continued  into  old  age 
and  beyond  the  producing  period  of  life,  are  as  false  and 
useless  as  insurances  upon  dilapidated,  decayed  and 
untenantabl  e  houses. " 


171 

paying  them,  is   an    object   not  wholly  without 

foundation.*' **It   will   be    observed    that 

though  the  natural  premiums  increase  in 
amounts  every  year,  and  more  rapidly  at  the 
older  than  at  the  younger  ages,  they  do  not 
exceed  the  level  premiums  of  the  old  system 
until  after  30  years,  (from  the  age  of  30).'* 
"The  advantages  of  the  natural  premiums 
(upon  which  the  system  of  the  Mutual  Reserve 
Fund  Life  Association  is  modeled,  by  the  main- 
tenance of  an  adequate  reserve  to  insure 
equality  of  payments  and  by  the  calling  in  of 
premiums  by  periodical  installments)  are  suffi- 
ciently obvious." 

But  it  is  also  sufficiently  obvious  that  the 
natural  premium  plan,  increasing  with  age — 
however  advantageous  and  equitable  it  may 
appear  to  some — is  ill  adapted  to  fraternal 
insurance. 

Our  Endowment  system  should  not  ask  its  old 
members  to  retire  and  let  younger  men  take 
their  places.  Our  Order  may  invite  young 
men  to  join,  and  must  protect  them  from  paying 
for  the  deficiency  of  its  older  members;  but  it 
would  never  allure  young,  new  members  by 
offering  to  them  "a  gambler's  chance  of  winning 


172 

profits  out  of  a  loss  of  protection  by  their  old, 
most  needy  brethren."  Let  business  associations, 
offering  cheap  Life  insurance,  claim  the  "  Ton- 
tine System "  as  one  of  their  "  Pillars  of 
strength";  a  truly  fraternal,  charitable  organiza- 
tion demands  that  its  members  stand  together 
as  long  as  life  lasts,  stand  by  each  other's 
families  beyond  the  grave;  brothers  should  be 
willing  to  pay  for  one  another,  sharing  the  bur- 
den all  alike;  the  young  paying  even  a  little  more 
than  Is  necessary  at  their  present  age,  in  order 
that  the  old,  who  have  paid  for  many  years,  and 
may  have  to  pay  during  many  more,  should  not 
be  required  to  pay  higher  rates.  By  far  the 
most  preferable  way  would  be,  to  altogether 
exempt  brothers  beyond  the  age  of  75  from  pay- 
ing any  further  assessments,  and  this  might  be 
safely  done  after  20  years,  if  by  virtue  of  a 
better  rate  of  interest  and  a  lower  rate  of 
mortality  the  reserve  fund  should  have  become 
proportionately  larger  than  calculated  in  the 
preceding  Tables. 

I  could  proceed  to  prove  the  importance  of 
IMMEDIATELY  adopting  the  level  rate  of  $18. 
per  annum  ;  it  being  the  lowest  possible  rate  to 
secure  an  enduring  Endowment  system;  it  being 


173 

the  highest  practicable  rate  under  which  it  is 
probable  to  replace  those  who  die  and  withdraw 
by  new  members  ;  its  cheapness  compared  with 
the  higher  rates  of  regular  Life  Insurance  Com- 
panies, and  its  advantages  over  a  lower,  yet  an- 
nually advancing  assessment ;  but 

•*1  scorn  to  tyrannize  over  the  impatience  of  my  reader.'' 

Moreover,  the  vast  majority  of  our  brethren 
place  but  little  confidence  in  the  so-called  co- 
operative insurance  societies,  and  are  by  no 
means  disputing  the  correctness  of  my  figures  ^3 
and  arguments.  They  simply  think  that,  as 
their  present  contribution  of  14  cents  per  capita 
at  each  death  is  more  than  sufficient  for  paying 
the  endowment  of  $1000,  and  adds  about  $30  000 
to  the  reserve  fund,  it  ought  to  be  enough. 
They  do  not  ponder  on  the  future,  do  not 
reckon  that  a  mortality  of  one  and  one  half  per 
cent,  out  of  the  present  membership  of  District 
No.  I,  would  be  138  deaths ;  that  at  14  cents 
assessments  this  would  amount  to  $19.32,  and 
that  whenever  the  death  rate  should  reach  iV^ 


23.  Fractions  are  omitted  in  my  calculations,  and  there 
are  some  inaccuracies;  but  not  sufficient  to  materially 
affect  the  result. 


.174 

per  cent.,  this  amount  would  have  to  be  paid  in 
one  year.  This  rate  of  mortality  is  sure  to  come 
soon,  by  the  natural  and  inevitable  advance  of 
age,  —  without  assuming  the  possible  contin- 
gency of  an  epidemic  ; — this  also  they  do  not 
consider  ;  and  though  our  old  lodges  show  an 
annual  death  rate  of  two  and  more  per  cent., 
they  scarcely  believe  it ;  or,  if  they  do,  prefer  to 
leave  the  unpleasant  task  of  further  increasing 
the  tax,  to  future  times  and  representatives,  or 
to  that  supreme  legislative  body — the  Constitu- 
tion Grand  Lodge. 

This  latter  was  relied  upon  in  District  No.  i. 

The  chairman  of  the  Widow  and  Orphan 
Committee  said  in  his  report  (Jan.  25th,  1885. 
Proceedings  33d  annual  session  of  D.  G.  L.  No. 
I,  page  103)  : 

"A  godsend  to  some,  it  was  a  burden  to  none. 
The  Endowment  fund,  in  spite  of  all  that  is 
said  to  the  contrary,  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant adjuncts  in  the  District,  and  we  hope  to 
see  it  secured  beyond  peradventure  for  ail  time 
to  come.  We  have  no  doubt  the  ensuing 
General  Convention  of  the  Order  will  find  the 
right  method  for  its  perpetuity,  and  therefore 
we  will  make  no  recommendations  at  this  time  '' 


175 

The  committee  to  whom  this  report  was  re- 
ferred fully  concurred  in  this  opinion,  and 
expressed  "the  hope  that  the  convention  of  the 
Constitution  Grand  Lodge,  which  meets  shortly, 
will  endeavor  to  legislate  upon  this  subject  in 
such  a  manner  that  any  doubts  that  may  have 
heretofore  existed  in  the  minds  of  our  brethren, 
as  to  the  stability  of  the  present  Endowment 
law,  may  be  absolutely  and  completely  dis- 
pelled." 

Before  examining  these  endeavors  to  so 
legislate  in  the  C.  G.  L.  Convention,  and  before 
discussing  the  causes  of  its  unsatisfactory  results, 
as  far  as  District  No.  i  is  concerned,  let  us  re- 
view the  condition  of  the  Endowment  fund  in 
the  other  Districts,  at  the  time  preceding  said 
convention. 

In  District  No.  2,  the  membership  increased 
from  2709  in  Jan.,  1879,  to  3070  in  Jan.,  1885  ; 
the  assessments  paid  by  each  member  amounted 
to  $15  per  annum  and  the  rate  of  interest  earned 
was  fully  7  per  cent.,  increasing  the  reserve  fund 
annually  by  about  $20,000,  or  about  $7  for  each 
member.  No  changes  were  made  in  its  laws, 
except  such  as  became  necessary  by  the  consoli- 
dation of   the  three   degrees   into   one   only,  as 


176 

ordained  by  the  C.  G.  L.  in  1879,  and  some 
amendments,  proposed  by  the  Trustees,  with  a 
view  to  improve  the  practical  working  of  the 
plan  and  to  perfect  some  of  its  details.  The 
most  important  of  these  was  the  change  in  the 
mode  of  collection  from  twenty  post-mortem 
assessments  at  75  cents  to  ten  regular  monthly 
dues  at  $1.50  (from  Feb.  to  Nov.,  both  in- 
clusive). This  change  was  made  to  avoid  the 
irregularity  caused  by  the  occurrence  of  many 
deaths  in  one  month  and  none  in  another,  while 
it  was  absolutely  certain  that  no  less  than  twenty 
deaths  would  occur  during  each  year  in  a  mem- 
bership of  3000,  whose  age  averaged  over  45 
years;  they  would  sometimes  occur  already  dur- 
.ing  the  first  eight  months,  while  under  the 
monthly  rates  the  collection  was  evenly  distri- 
buted over  the  year.  In  1883  forty-seven  mem- 
bers died  (which  is  15.4  out  of  a  1000  or  over 
I J^  per  cent.),  and  for  the  first  time  the  endow- 
ments exceeded  the  assessment-receipts;  it  be- 
came also  evident  that  the  rate  of  interest  de- 
clined and  no  new  investments  with  first-class 
7  per  cent. 

In   view  of   these  facts  the  question   arose 
whether  $15  per  annum  would   be  sufficient  to 


177 

secure  the  enduring  prosperity,  the  permanency 
of  the  endowment  institution.  In  the  report  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  C.  G.  L.  (1872- 
1873)  I  had  demonstrated  that  $15  per  annum 
from  each  member,  their  average  age  being  then 
about  35,  and  none  above  the  age  of  45  to  be 
admitted,  would  be  exactly  enough  to  establish 
a  permanent  and  reliable  endowment  fund;  and, 
after  the  Chicago  Convention  had  blindly  re> 
jected  the  excellent  proposition  for  a  genera 
endowment  of  the  entire  Order,  District  No.  2 
established  its  own  district  endowment  on  that 
basis.  But  this  was  calculated  on  7  per  cent, 
interest.  That  the  assumption  of  this  rate  was 
at  that  time  both  reasonable  and  justifiable,  is 
proven  by  the  fact  that  during  more  than  ten 
years  the  reserve  fund  of  District  No.  2  was 
safely  invested  at  a  rate  considerably  above 
SEVEN /<?r  cent\  but  now  it  became  impossible  to 
do  so  at  more  than  six  per  cent. 

The  bearing  of  this  change  on  the  annual  rate 
of  contributions  from  each  member  is  greater 
than  most  people  imagine;  and  yet  every  school- 
boy almost  could  deduce  from  any  compound 
interest  table  what  amount  of  annual  deposit  is 
required  at  different  rates  of  interest  to  purchase 


178 

« 

$iooo  in  a  given  number  of  years.  Take  24 
year — being  the  number  of  years  men  of  age  45 
may  on  an  average  be  expected  to  live — and  you 
will  find24  that:  At  7  per  cent.  $1  annually= 
$62.25  ;  hence  $16.00  annually  =  $1000.00. 
At  6  per  cent.  $1  annually==$53.86  ;  hence 
$18.56  annually=iooo.oo.  At  5  per  cent.  $1 
annually=46.73;  hence  $21.40  annually=$iooo. 
So  that  I  per  cent,  difference  in  the  rate  of  in- 
terest causes  a  difference  of  from  $2.50  to 
$3.  in  the  annual  deposit  required  for  $1000  in 
24  years.  Aside  from  this  there  comes  into  con- 
sideration the  difference  produced  by  one  per 
cent,  interest  on  the  already  accumulated  funds, 
which  will  amonnt  in  30  years  to  over  a  quarter 
million  dollars  on  $150,000  present  reserve. 

The  report  of  the  Endowment  Fund  Trustees 
to  D.  G.  L.  No.   2   (Dec.  31,  1883)  presented   a 


24.  In  some  compound  interest  tables  (wherein  the  de- 
posit is  not  calculated  in  advance,  at  the  beginning  of  each 
year)  we  find  that  %i  annually  will  amount  in  24  years,  at 
7  per  cent,  to  $58.18;  at  6  per  cent,  to  $50.81;  at  5  per 
cent,  to  $44.50;  hence  for  $1000  the  annual  deposit  re- 
buired  would  be — at  7  per  cent.  $17.18;  at  6  per  cent. 
$19.68;  at  5  per  cent.  $22.47.  The  difference  is  the 
same  ! 


179. 

Table  showing  arithmetically  that,  assuming  6 
per  cent,  interest  hereafter,  $i8  instead  of  $15 
would  be  the  proper  annual  assessment,  and 
strongly  recommended  the  adoption  of  this  rate 
for  the  future,  stating,  at  the  same  time,  that 
this  was  not  necessary  for  our  old  members,  not 
lor  those  who  will  depart  this  life  within  25 
years,  but  for  our  young  members,  for  those 
whom  we  expect  to  survive  us. 

This  Endowment  Trustees*  report  was  re- 
ferred, as  usual,  to  a  committee  ;  a  majority  of 
its  members  were  at  first  opposed  to  the  recom- 
mendation to  increase  the  assessments,  or  de- 
sired that  action  thereon  be  at  least  postponed 
for  a  year,  until  the  proposition  could  have  been 
submitted  to  the  lodges;  but  after  a  full  and  fair 
discussion  they  were  converted  by  the  strong 
arguments  of  the  advocates,  and  more  still,  per- 
haps, by  those  of  the  opponents ;  finally,  all  ex- 
cept one  signed  the  majority  report,  which  con- 
curred in  the  recommendation  of  the  Trustees 
and,  in  strong  and  most  flattering  expressions  of 
satisfaction  and  confidence,  endorsed  the  levying 
of  sufficient  assessments  as  the  only  honest  me- 
thod for  providing  against  any  possible  failure 
of  our  solemn  promises  in  the  future. 


i8o 

The  minority  report  of  one  recommended  that 
action  upon  the  proposed  increase  of  asses:ment 
be  deferred  until  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the 
G.  L.  Th^  consideration  of  these  reports  called 
forth  much  eloquence  on  both  sides,  and  was 
participated  in  with  considerable  interest  by 
nearly  all  the  members  present.  Finally,  the 
motion  to  approve  the  majority  report  was 
agreed  to,  and  the  proposed  amendment  was 
adopted  by  42  votes  in  the  affirmative,  against 
17  in  the  negative. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  endowment  fund  of  Dis- 
trict No.  2,  with  its  proportionately  larger  re- 
serve fund  and  its  ability  to  earn  6  per  cent,  in- 
terest, was  not  near  as  much  in  need  of  adopting 
the  rate  of  $18  as  District  No.  i  is.  But  by  the 
adoption  of  that  rate  it  has  secured  its  endow- 
ment fund  beyond  all  possible  contingencies,  in- 
dependent of  any  accession  or  withdrawal  of 
members  and  without  ever  requiring  an  increase 
of  that  rate,  unless  the  rate  of  interest  should 
decline  below  five  per  cent,  investments  on  first- 
class  real  estate  security  in  Cincinnati,  Chicago, 
St  Louis,  and  other  cities  outside  of  the  great 
money  centres  of  the  East,  will  most  probably 
bring  6  per  cent,  interest  for  many  years  to  come; 


i8i 

and,  if  so,  District  No.  2  will  be  enabled  to  re- 
lieve its  members  when  they  will  reach  the  age 
of  75  from  paying  any  further  assessments. 
Thus  another  excellent  feature  would  be  added 
to  our  endowment  system.  If  there  be  here- 
after a  surplus  beyond  the  necessary  reserve,  by 
reason  of  a  smaller  mortality  or  a  higher  rate  of 
interest  than  calculated  upon,  those  members 
who  will  have  contributed  over  30  years  will  be 
justly  entitled  to  that  surplus.  I  consider  it  by 
far  more  important  that  old  members,  physically 
disabled  to  earn  money,  be  relieved,  than  it  is 
that  our  young  members,  able  to  work  and  earn, 
should  save  one  cent  per  day,  by  paying  now 
three  dollars  less  ;  and  I  am  happy  to  find  that 
our  young  brethren  in  District  No.  2  do  not  in 
the  least  object  to  the  increased  rate  of  assess- 
ment. 

There  are  some  old  deluded  members  who 
imagine  that  the  seeming  surplus  is  demanded 
for  the  benefit  of  future  generations.  It  is  quite 
useless  to  argue  with  these  men  ;  their  minds 
seem  incapable  to  grasp  the  plainest  calculations 
connected  with  the  problems  of  life  insurance; 
and  it  is  quite  unnecessary,  in  District  No.  2  at 
least,  as  they  are  in  a  hopeless  minority.     For 


this  very  reason  Grand  Lodge  .No  2  wisely  con- 
cluded to  allow  these  few  opponents  full  free- 
dom of  speech,  so  that  they  could  not  complain 
of  being  gagged  by  the  majority.  They  found 
themselves  nevertheless  overwhelmingly  de- 
feated, and  the  increase  from  $15  to  $18, 
adopted  in  May,  1884,  was  confirmed  and  en- 
dorsed with  still  larger  majority  by  the  Grand 
Lodge  in  May,  1885. 

In  District  No.  3,  the  subject  of  Endowment 
was  often  brought  before  the  consideration  of 
the  Grand  Lodge,  but  up  to  this  day  no  reserve 
fund  was  provided  for.  The  members,  2937  in 
number,  pay  an  assessment  of  35  cents  at  each 
death,  or  about  just  enough  to  pay  $1,000  to  the 
widow  or  orphans  of  the  deceased  brother.  The 
present  mortality  is  12  out  of  a  thousand,  indicat- 
the  age  of  47  as  rhe  average.  A  few  members 
have  been  struggling  year  after  year  to  have  the 
Endowment  law  amended,  so  as  to  provide  for 
a  sinking  fund;  but  were  yearly  defeated.  The 
proceedings  of  this  District  Grand  Lodge  1884- 
1885  contains  the  following  report:  "The  Gen- 
eral Committee  of  previous  years  have  urged 
upon  the  D.  G.  L.  the  necessity  of  creating  a 
reserve  or  surplus  fund  in  some  shape  or  form. 


i83 

but  always  without  success,  and  therefore  it  is 
useless  again  to  submit  similar  views  which  this 
committee  entertains  and  shares  with  its  prede- 
cessors      We  recommend  the  adoption  of 

the  proposed  amendment,  providing  for  a  per- 
capita  assessment  of  forty  cents  for  each  death 
and  setting  aside,  as  a  reserve  fund,  whatever 
surplus  may  remain  after  the  payment  of  the 
one  thousand  dollars.  It  has  been  urged  as  an 
objection  to  amending  the  Endowment  laws,  that 
the  Convention  of  the  Order,  called  to  assemble 
in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the  first  day  of 
March  1885,  may  pass  some  general  laws  on  the 
subject    of  endowment,   rendering    our  action 

nugatory This   possibility,  however, 

should  not  interfere  with  your  proceedings  to-day, 
inasmuch  as  the  question  is  properly  before  you 
and  the  anticipated  action  of  the  Constitution 
Grand  Lodge  altogether  problematical."     "Our 

laws  are  defective Old  laws  once  good 

(?)  and  efficient,  become,  as  time  advances  and 
the  world  moves,  inefficient  and  unadapted  to 
existing  demands.  It  is  worse  than  folly  to 
cling  to  old  laws  and  regulations  because  of 
their  age  and  because  they  were  once  (supposed 
to  be)  *good  enough,'  and  should  therefore  be 


r84 

*  left  alone.*  ....  Our  members  are  just  so 
many  years  older,  without  a  perceptible  increase 
of  young  blood  to  infuse  the  necessary  vitality* 
These  considerations  certainly  demand  prudent  ^ 
and  wise  legislation  looking  to  the  enaction  of 
laws  that  wUl  ensure  protection  to  those  who 
joined  the  Order  of  late  years  or  who  may  here- 
after unite  with  it." 

A  motion  that  the  consideration  of  this  propo- 
sition be  postponed  till  after  the  convention  of 
the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge  was  lost  by  42 
nays  against  40  ayes. 

A  substitute,  providing  for  a  quarterly  pay- 
ment of  75  cents  from  every  member  into  the 
treasury  of  his  Lodge,  towards  the  formation  of 
a  reserve  fund,  was  first  amended  to  fifty  cents, 
and  then  not  receiving  the  necessary  two-third 
vote,  though  a  majority,  (43  ayes  and  28  nays) — 
was  declared  lost. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  District  where  the  as- 
sessments are  very  low  as  not  to  exceed,  so  far, 
$12  per  annum;  during  last  decade  the  total  ex- 
pence  of  each  member  did  not  exceed  $15  per 
annum.  It  possesses  since  1873  a  nice  and 
commodious  home — a  B'nai  B'rith  Hall — where 
peace   and  harmony  exists   ''not  only  amongst 


i85 

the  members  of  the  different  Lodges,  but  also  in 
relation  of  this  Grand  Lodge  to  its  subordinates. 

Did  the  Order  increase  there  during  the  last 
years  as  heretofore  ?  Let  the  last  annual  report 
of  District  No.  3  give  us  the  answer. 

The  General  Committee,  after  furnishing  the 
statistical  figures,  says: 

"The  above  exhibit  again  shows  a  continued 
decrease  in  our  numbers.  It  is  a  humiliating 
fact  to  contemplate  that  there  is  so  little  interest 
taken  to  add  new  strength  to  our  Order.  Dur- 
ing the  last  six  years  we  have  lost  over  eighty 
members,  instead  of  increasing  in  numbers, 
which  statement  can  be  readily  verified." 

Here  is  evidence  that  a  low  rate  of  Endow- 
ment taxation  does  not  mcrease  the  membership 
of  our  Order,  nor  even  prevent  their  "dropping 
off."  District  No.  2  whose  members  paid  the 
highest  rates,  accumulating  a  large  reserve  fund, 
has  increased  itsmembership  whilst  District  No. 
3  with  the  lowest  taxation  did  not  add  to  its 
members  or  to  its  funds.  The  members  of  both 
Districts  feel,  equally,  a  glow  of  pride  and  pleas- 
ure in  the  reflection  that  hundred  thousands  of 
dollars  have  been  distributed  in  support  of  the 
families  of  their  deceased  brethren;  but  those  of 


i86 

the  one  feel  that  their  endowment  system  is  safe 
and  well  secured,  that  it  protects  future  mem- 
bers, young  men  who  wish  to  join,  from  being 
taxed  for  the  present  old  members; — while  those 
of  the  other  Districts  feel  more  or  less  the  in- 
security or  instability  of  their  system. 

The  average  age  of  our  brethren  in  District 
No.  3  is  somewhat  more  advanced  than  in 
any  other  District,  and  no  reserve  fund  has 
been  allowed  to  accumulate,2s — consequently 
assessments  at  the  rate  of  $15  per  annum  would 
have  to  be  raised  to  $18  and  to  $20  within 
ten  years  to  make  good  the  error  of  the  past 
and  secure  the  stability  of  the  endowment 
for  the  future.  Were  this  District  to  con- 
tinue under  its  present  plan,  of  paying  just 
enough  to  produce  $1000  at  each  death,  its 
members  would  also  be  required  to  pay  annually 
increasing  amounts,  and  this  without  limit,  as 
the  mortality  will  increase  with  advancing  age; 
and  it  would  make  but  very  little  difference 
whether  the  membership  remain  about  the  same 
or  continue  to  decrease.  ^^ 


25  On  January  ist,  1885  it  had  a  balance  of  $2886. 

26  When  the  age  of  56  is  reached,  the  rate  of  mortality 


x87 

The  lowest  rate  to  secure  a  permanent  endow- 
ment for  District  No.  3  is  $i8  for  one  thousand 
dollars  annually,  provided  that  6  per  cent  in- 
terest can  be  obtained  on  the  investment  of  its 
reserve.  This  rate  of  interest  may,  probably,  be 
safely  obtainable,  if  the  Trustees  were  not  re- 
stricted to  loans  in  Philadelphia,  but  permitted 
to  lend  on  property  of  double  value  in  other 
cities,  such  as  Pittsburgh,  Wheeling,  Newark,  &c. 

From  past  experience  it  seems  doubtful  that 
$18  could  be  carried  in  the  D.  G.  L.,  or  that  any 
higher  rate  than  $15,  being  the  lowest  rate  per- 
mitted under  our  Constitution,  could  prevail. 
But  it  would  be  better  to  reduce  the  endowment 
to  $500,  making  the  tax  $9  annually,  than  to 
promise  twice  that  amount  for  $15.  An  endow- 
ment of  500  which  is  sure  is  by  far  more  valu- 
able than  one  of  $1,000  which  is  a  delusion. 
The  aggregate  lodge  dues  would  thus   be  re- 


being  2  per  cent,  there  would  then  die  about  sixty  out  of 
three  thousand  members;  the  assessments  at  35  cents  would 
amount  to  $21  per  year.  Were  the  number  to  decrease  to, 
say,  2,600  members  it  would  require  assessments  at  40  cts, 
and  although  52  or  53  only  would  then  die  in  one  year,  the 
tax  would  amount  to  the  same  and  would  continue  to  in- 
crease from  yeai  to  year. — The  result  need  not  be  told. 


i88       ^ 

duced  instead  of  being  increased;  you  will  get 
new  young  members,  and  members  who  do  not 
join  for  the  sake  of  the  Endowment.  Let  these 
and  all  who  hanker  after  cheap  insurance  get  it 
elsewhere.  You  might  then  also  allow  young, 
unmarried  men,  to  join  your  Lodges  without 
contributing  to  the  Endowment  fund,  until  they 
get  married. 

This  is  what  District  No.  3  should  do.  I 
would  have  much  preferred  to  tell  you  that 
"with  some  zeal  you  might  be  able  to  secure  an 
increase  of  membership,  and  increased  benefits; 
that  you  might  keep  down  the  death  rate  at 
about  one  per  cent  forever " — as  others  have 
told  you  before.  It  would  be  pleasanter  to  tell 
you  what  you  like  to  hear,  than  to  tell  you  what 
you  need.  But  sweet  deceiving  flattery  brings 
mischief  and  ruin,  while  truth, — though  bitter, 
brings  life  and  prosperity. 

In  District  No.  4,  the  Pacific  coast, — the 
members  protest  with  remarkable  unanimity  and 
with  incomprehensible  bitterness  against  any  in- 
terference with  their  Endowment.  The  lodges 
comprising  this  District  sent  a  delegation  to  the 
General  Convention  held  at  Philadelphia  in 
1879,  who  presented  their  protest  and  a  petition 


189 

*'  to  refrain  from  the  passage  of  any  law  altering 
the  present  status  of  the  Endowment  system, 
and  to  Meave  well  enough'  alone.  " — '*  Fearing 
that  the  advocates  of  the  injudicious  measure 
— to  establish  a  General  Endowment  System 
— might  renew  their  attempt  in  that  direction/' 
they  claimed  the  right  to  administer  their  finan- 
cial affairs  as  they  deem  best.  And  what  did 
those  advocates  of  a  General  Endowment  do  ? 
Convinced  that  "laws  and  reforms  however 
wise  and  just,  cannot  be  carried  out  successfully 
while  they  are  obnoxious  to  a  great  majority  of 
those  for  whom  they  are  intended,'*  they  re- 
ported :  "  We  deem  it  against  the  wishes  of  a 
majority  of  the  fraternity  as  well  as  inexpedient, 
at  this  time,  to  enact  a  general  Endowment  law.'* 
They  merely  recommended  :  "  that  the  various 
Districts  endeavor  to  improve  their  laws  so  as  to 
give  stability  and  permanence  to  the  mode  of 
supporting  the  widows  and  orphans  of  our  de- 
ceased members."  They  merely  recommended, 
as  a  necessity,  the  establishment  of  adequate 
Reserve  funds  ;  and  they  expressly  stated  :  "We 
do  not  recommend  that  this  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge  exercise  its  supreme  legislative  power  in 
prescribing  limits  of  benefit  or  other  rules  to  the 


190 

various  P<stricts  on  the  subject  of  Endowment, 
hoping  tnat  the  Grand  Lodges  may  each  enact 
such  wise  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  as  will  conduce  to  the  welfare  of 
their  sections.'* 

This,  certainly,  proves  that  the  fears  of  the 
California  Lodges  were  unfounded ;  but  so  also 
were  the  hopes  of  the  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge  that  adopted  the  report. 

In  1880  District  No.  4  had  1642  members; 
during  that  year  the  mortality  was  16,  and  the 
assessments  levied  were  60  cents  per  capita, 
scarcely  sufficient  to  produce  $1,000  at  each 
death.  Nevertheless,  in  the  following  year,  this 
District  Grand  Lodge  adopted  a  resolution 
which  raised  the  Endowment  to  $2,000,  and  the 
assessments  for  each  death  to  $1.25  per  capita. 
This  movement  was  founded,  no  doubt,  on  the 
exceptionally  small  mortality  of  1881, — there 
being  five  deaths  only  out  of  its  1724  members. 

Brother  Heineman,  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  for  that  District,  wrote  in  his  report 
for  1882  as  follows  :  "The  majority  of  the  Past 
Presidents  of  this  District  have  not  yet,  and 
probably  never  will,  acknowledge  the  necessity 
of  acquiring   and    accumulating    an    adequate 


191 

sinking  fund  to  protect  our  Endowment  system. 
.  .  .  They  even  go  so  far  as  to  use  the  inter- 
est of  our  fund,  which  has  now  reached  the 
respectable  sum  of  $47,000,  to  defray  an  addi- 
tional assessment  whenever  there  should  be 
enough  acquired  to  do  so  (to  pay  $2,000).  This 
is  altogether  wrong  according  to  my  idea  ;  yet  I 
am  positive  there  are  not  more  than  ten  mem- 
bers in  our  entire  District  Grand  Lodge,  out  of 
a  total  of  three  hundred,  to  share  my  opinion." 
**  This  point  ought  to  be  one  of  our  main  issues 
at  the  next  Constitutional  Convention,  and  all 
District  Grand  Lodges  should  be  held  to  levy  a 
certain  pro  rata  at  each  assessment,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  acquiring  adequate  sinking  funds.*' 
And  now,  when  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge 
finally  has  done,  what  California's  own  represen- 
tative said  ought  to  be  done — a  cry  of  dissatis- 
faction is  raised ;  open  rebellion  is  seriously 
threatened.  The  members  of  District  No.  4 
ask,  why  should  we  be  so  heavily  taxed,  that  the 
distant  future  may  be  provided  for  !  Like  the 
Hibernian  orator  they  cry  :  "  Why  should  we 
care  for  posterity  ?  What  has  posterity  done  for 
us?" 

The  simplest   calculation  would   prove  that. 


192 

far  from  providing  for  "the  distant  future"  or 
for  "  posterity,"  they  fail  to  provide  for  one-half 
of  their  members,  for  those  who  would  still  be 
living  about  twenty  years  hence.  These  will 
then  have  reached  the  age'of  60,  and  some  of  70 
years,  consequently  a  mortality  of  4  per  cent., 
requiring  4ox$2,ooo=$8o,ooo  annually,  $80. 
from  each  one  of  the  one  thousand  surviving 
members.  But  such  calculation  is  denounced  as 
erroneous,  as  it  does  not  take  into  consideration 
the  probability  that  young  members  would  fill 
the  places  of  those  who  die,  etc.  In  other 
words  :  they  are  unwilling  to  pay  for  posterity, 
but  are  most  willing  to  let  posterity  pay  for 
them.  They  expect  this  as  "  a  matter  of 
course ;"  just  as  we  know  that  for  every  death 
there  is  also  at  least  one  birth. 

What  do  the  facts  show  in  District  No.  4  ? 
I.  That  up  to  January,  1885,  it  paid  98 

Endowments,  amounting   to      .      $124,000 
2    That  these  98  deceased  mem- 
bers contributed    ....    $6,900 
3.  That  302  suspended  members 

contributed 10,000 

17,657 

Leaving  a  deficit  as  to  surviving 


members  of  $106,343 


193 

At  the  present  amount  of  Endowments  — 
$2,000 — this  deficiency  would  increase  from  year 
to  year,  and  would,  before  many  years,  have  to 
be  paid  by  future  members,  by  posterity,  or 
could  not  be  paid  at  all.  Is  it  not  evident  that 
young  men  would  soon  begin  to  understand 
this  and  would  not  join  ?  Some  understand  it 
already. 

In  1884,  the  President  of  District  Grand 
Lodge  No.  4  (Bro.  B.  F.  Sperling)  avowed  that: 
"by  careful  study  of  the  subject,  from  the  inter- 
est he  felt  in  the  ability  of  the  Order  to  maintain 
its  integrity,  his  views  had  materially 
CHANGED.  He  had  formerly  made  a  recom- 
mendation, which  had  been  adopted,  viz.  :  to 
use  the  surplus  received  from  assessments  for 
the  payment  of  an  Endowment  whenever  the 
amount  of  such  excess  reached  $2,000.  He 
would  now  suggest  and  advise  that  all  monies 
so  received  be  permitted  to  accumulate  for 
future  exigencies.  He  was  convinced,  that  if 
the  present  system  were  to  remain  in  force,  the 
promise  to  pay  $2,000  to  the  heirs  of  a  deceased 
brother  would  after  a  time,  from  the  very  nature 
of  things,  be  found  impossible  of  fulfillment ; 
.     .     .    that  unless   some   method,  other  than 


194 

the  one  now  in  use,  be  found,  the  future  would 
present  a  sad  commentary  on  human  credulity 
and  human  thoughtlessness.  .  .  .  That  the 
fact,  that  the  Order  was  pledged  to  pay  the 
Endowment  to  the  heirs  of  every  member,  must 
not  be  overlooked  ;  and  that  a  failure  to  do  so 
would  bring  disruption  and  dissolution  "  To 
avoid  any  of  these  po>^sible  calamities,  he  sub- 
mitted two  propositions  to  the  Grand  Lodge  : 
One,  to  make  a  uniform  annual  assessment,  suf^ 
ficient  in  amount  to  insure  the  payment  of  the 
Endowment  The  other,  to  segregate  the  En- 
dowment fund  from  the  direct  control  of  the 
District  Grand  Lodge.     Possibly  it  might  be 

WISE  TO  combine  BOTH  PROPOSITIONS. 

His  recommendations  were  not  approved  by 
the  Grand  Lodge,  except  as  to  the  appointment 
of  a  special  committee  on  this  subject,  which 
was  to  report  to  the  next  annual  session. 

In  1885,  the  same  President  (having  been  re- 
elected) again  referred  to  the  thoughts  he  had 
expressed  in  his  former  annual  message  and 
stated  that  many  members  ol  the  Grand  Lodge 
had  regarded  him  as  an  alarmist.  But,  since  he 
had  spoken  upon  that  subject,  our  eminent 
Grand   President  of  the  Order,  Brother  Julius 


195 

Bien,  had  expressed  his  views  upon  the  Endow- 
ment question,^?  so  full  of  anxious  apprehension 
and  so  fraught  with  wisdom,  that  he  quoted 
them  in  full,  saying  that  "notes  of  warning 
from  a  source  so  much  entitled  to  our  respectful 
consideration,  ought  not  to  pass  unheeded.** 
In  view  of  the  near  approach  of  the  extra  ses- 
sion of  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge,  (to  con- 
vene in  New  York  in  March,  1885)  he  said  in 
his  Message  :  "  It  is  a  question  which  ought  to 
be  settled  authoritatively  by  the  Constitution 
Grand  Lodf^e  in  such  a  manner  that  the  rule  of 
action  should  be  uniform  throughout  the  Order, 
and  that  the  principles  upon  which  the  Endow- 
ment system  shall  be  conducted  will  be  estab- 
lished on  a  basis,  so  wise,  as  to  avert  any  possi- 
ble calamity  in  our  Order,  even  in  the  far 
future.** 

Grand  Lodge  No.  4,  however,  adopted  a  reso- 
lution "that  we  desire  no  change  in  our 
Endowment  laws,  as  at  present  constituted  ; 
that  we  find  them  working  satisfactorily  and 
desire  no  legislation  on  the  matter  ot  Endow- 

27.  Report  of  the  Executive  Committee  1883-1884." 
**  Introductory;'*  pages  3  and  4. 


196 

ment  which  will  affect  District  No.  4/'  A  com- 
mittee was  also  appointed  to  draft  resolutions  in 
conformity  with  this  sentiment,  urging  the 
lodges  to  submit  them  to  the  Constitution  Grand 
Lodge.  They  did  so,  and  not  a  single  lodge  of 
District  No.  4  dissented. 

Thus  it  is  apparent  that  the  majority  of  its  mem- 
bers still  believe  that  their  death  rate  will  not 
materially  increase  ;  they  rely  on  the  salubrious 
climate  of  the  Pacific  coast,  on  its  immunity 
from  yellow  fever  and,  perhaps,  from  other  epi- 
demies  ;  they  persistently  ignore  that,  neverthe- 
less, they  will  all  die,  and  that  their  average 
duration  of  life  differs  but  very  little  from  that 
of  the  Atlantic  coast.  They  still  consider  the 
accumulation  of  a  large  reserve  fund  impracti- 
cable and  unnecessary — though  every  one  of 
them,  individually,  wishes  and  tries  to  accumu- 
late wealth.  They  consider  a  tax  of  $15.  per 
annum  burdensome,  and  yet  boast  that  they  will 
be  willing  and  ready  to  pay  twice  and  thrice 
that  amount  of  assessment  m  later  years,  if 
necessary  ;  forgetting  that  many  members  may 
then  not  be  able  to  pay  about  $4.  monthly,  (as 
the  members  of  the  Mutual  Covenant  Endow- 
ment Association   of  Cincinnati,   O.,   are   now 


197 

required  to  pay)  and  that,  certainly,  no  young 
men  would  then  be  willing  to  join. 

Now,  if  the  members  of  District  No.  4  prefer 
to  be  guided  by  leaders  of  certain  so-called  Mu- 
tual Aid  Societies  who  are  unknown  and  irre- 
sponsible to  them,  rather  than  by  the  chosen 
representatives  of  their  own  Order, — let  them 
get  their  insurance  in  those  societiei?,  or  fiom  an 
insurance  association  of  their  own  outside  of  the 
Order^  as  is  done  by  Masons  and  Odd-fellows. 
Every  District  is  perfectly  at  liberty  to  have  or 
not  have  an  Endowment  institution.  All  that 
our  Constitution  demands  is  :  that  no  Endow- 
ment system  be  carried  on  in  the  honored  name 
of  the  Order  B'nai  B'rith  which  might  fail  in  the 
fulfillment  of  its  promises  and  obligations.  If 
our  brethren  want  to  carry  on  a  Widow  and  Or- 
phan Endowment,  as  a  part  of  our  noble  institu- 
tion and  under  its  jurisdiction^  it  must  be  an 
honest  one ;  not  what  is  proven  to  be  a  delusion 
that  would  end  in  disaster  and  disgrace. 

What  cause,  then,  is  there  for  protests  or  for 
revolutionary  measures?  If  I  am  allowed  to 
give  advice  or  to  make  a  suggestion,  it  is  this  : 
Combine  both  propositions  made  by  your  Presi- 
dent in  1884.     Let  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  4 


198 

enact  an  Endowment  law,  in  harmony  with  the 
late  constitutional'  enactment,  for  $t,ooo  only, 
fixing  the  contributions  at  $15.  annually,  giving 
to  unmarried  men  the  option  not  to  contribute 
nor  participate,  until  they  get  married,  and  let 
those  who  desire  an  additional  insurapce  of 
$1,000  or  more  dollars  form  a  separate,  optional 
organization,  under  any  plan  or  system  they 
may  deem  proper,  apart  from  the  control  and 
responsibility  of  the  District  Grand  Lodge  and 
of  the  Order. 

In  District  No.  5,  an  Endowment  law  was 
adopted  in  1874.  It  gave  to  the  widow,  orphans 
or  designated  beneficiary  of  each  deceased  mem- 
ber $1000,  to  be  produced  by  assessment ;  and 
it  established  a  sinking  fund,  formed  on  a  basis 
of  15  cents  per  member  at  each  death.  This 
fund  was  to  be  kept  under  the  control  of  the 
several  lodges,  and  from  it  all  assessments  in 
excess  of  twenty  deaths  were  to  be  paid. 

Thus  the  study  of  this  District  Endowment — 
of  its  struggles  for  more  than  ten  years — offers 
an  opportunity  for  considering  the  question  as 
to  whether  it  were  better  for  each  lodge  to  be 
the  custodian   of   its  own  share   in  the  reserve 


199 

fund,  or  whether  it  would  be  more  advisable  to 
centralize  it  and  vest  its  management  and  cus- 
tody in  one  Board  of  Trustees,  Theoretically, 
it  makes  no  difference  which  of  the  two  methods 
is  adopted,  if  the  amount  be  the  same,  and  if  it 
be  equally  well  guarded  and  invested  at  interest. 
Fears  of  possible  mismanagement,  petty  distrust 
or  local  considerations  induced  men  in  this  and 
every  other  District  to  oppose  centralization  ; 
but,  practically,  this  method  is  by  far  safer  and 
more  advantageous.  It  is  easier  to  find  a  few 
men  possessing  the  necessary  business  capacity, 
combined  with  strict  integrity,  who  will  take 
charge  of  a  large  fund  and  will  consider  it  an 
honor  and  a  sacred  duty  to  do  so;  while,  among 
thirty  or  more  lodges,  mistakes  will  sometimes 
be  made  in  the  selection  of  so  great  a  number 
of  Trustees — three  from  each  lodge.  Besides, 
small  amounts  cannot  be  as  safely  invested, 
often  not  at  all,  and  losses  become  inevitable.a^ 


28.  In  1878  already,  Malachi  Lodge,  No.  146,  reported 
the  fact  that  $360.22  of  their  Endowment  sinking  fund  had 
been  lost  by  the  failure  of  a  bank,  and  asked  whether  the 
lodge  or  the  trustees  were  responsible  for  the  loss.  The 
General  Committee  decided  that  the  Grand  Lodge  c?n  hold 
only  the  lodge  responsible  for  keeping  the  Endowment 


Other  difficulties  and  complications  arise  from 
the  divided  administration  of  the  fund  into  many- 
small  fractional  parts,  as  will  be  fully  illustrated 
by  the  developments  in  District  No.  5. 

During  the  first  years  the  members  of  this 
District  were  not  only  well  satisfied,  but  quite 
enthusiastic  about  their  endowment  system.  In 
1876  it  had  been  visited — at  Savannah,  Ga. — by 
that  dreadful  scourge,  the  yellow  fever.  The 
suffering  and  destruction  among  the  inhabitants 
of  that  section  was  great,  yet  the  deaths  were 
only  23  out  of  the  2028  members  composing  the 
32  lodges  that  formed  that  District  ;  and  on 
October  i,  1877,  the  amount  of  the  reserve  was 
already  $24,382.71,  while  $25,000  had  been  paid 
for  endowments  during  that  year.  Nevertheless, 
amendments   were  offered   and  made  at  every 


sinking  fund  intact,  and  can  not  know  the  trustees  in  this 
matter.  Malachi  Lodge  appealed  ;  claiming  that  "  the 
trustees  could  not  be  compelled  to  pay  the  same,  having 
deposited  the  money  in  a  chartered  bank — nor  the  lodge, 
having  strictly  complied  with  the  law,  it  would  be  unjust 
to  expect  us  to  pay  the  amount  again.'*  In  vain  did  the 
General  Committee  urge  the  adoption  of  measures  placing 
the  fund  more  directly  under  the  control  of  the  Grand 
Lodge. 


meeting  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  and  more  stringent 
measures  adopted  for  their  administration. 

In  Jan.,  1878,  the  President's  report  to  the 
Grand  Lodge  states  that  quite  recently  the  Gen- 
eral Committee  directed  him  to  suspend  the 
charters  of  three  lodges  for  non-payment  of 
their  endowment  dues.  In  the  same  message 
the  President  said:  *'The  only  safety  and  surety 
for  the  perpetuation  of  the  endowment  is  in  the 
strict  enforcement  of  that  part  of  the  law  creat- 
ing a  sinking  fund.  ...  Is  there  a  sane 
man  who  would  insure  his  life  in  a  company 
whose  receipts  only  equal  its  annual  disburse- 
ments ?  .  .  .  I  warn  you,  my  brethren,  as 
you  value  the  endowment,  do  not  give  up  your 
sinking  fund." 

And  yet,  in  1879,  his  successor  states  to  the 
Grand  Lodge  :  ^'  In  consequence  of  the  excel- 
lent health  in  the  District,  and  not  a  single 
death  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  current 
year,  many  of  the  lodges  took  advantage  of  this 
Providential  blessing,  by  adopting  laws  tending 
to  the  ultimate  destruction  of  the  sinking  fund." 

In  1880,  repeated  complaints  were  expressed 
against  several  of  the  lodges,  they  having  been 
in  arrears  for  two  and  three  assessments  at  a 


202 

time,  and  asserting  that  "  the  law  now  in  force 
does  not  serve  the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
designed.*'  The  General  Committee's  report 
makes  the  following  statement:  ^*  By  our  present 
law  the  custody  of  the  fund  is  entrusted  to  the 
lodges,  but  the  same  law  also  makes  it  the  duty  Of 
a  certain  set  of  officials  to  receive  this  fund  from 
the  lodge,  to  invest  it  and  to  be  responsible  for 
its  safe  keeping. '  It  is  true,  they  are  required 
to  give  bond  for  the  faithful  execution  of  this 
trust,  but,  aside  from  the  fact  that  such  bonds 
are  generally  of  insufficient  security,  and  the 
manifest  impossibility  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
satisfying  itself  of  the  sufficiency  of  175  bonds, 
scattered  over  and  subject  to  the  varying  laws 
of  five  States  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  they 
cannot  be  enforced  and  the  penalty  collected 
without  expensive  and  tedious  litigation.'*  To 
remedy  this  and  other  defects  of  the  law,  the 
General  Committee  submitted  a  set  of  carefully 
prepared  amendments,  proposing  to  assimilate 
this  law  with  that  of  District  No.  2,  changing 
the  occasional  assessment  to  a  fixed  contribu- 
tion, and  placing  the  management  of  the  En- 
dowment sinking  fund  in  the  hands  of  one  board 
of  control,  to  be  elected  by  the  Grand  Lodge. 


203 

But  the  Special  Committee  on  Endowment 
recommended  some  temporary  changes  only, 
and  a  Resolution  :  ^*  That  this  committee  be  con- 
tinued with  authority  to  draft  a  plan  for  a  re- 
vised Endowment  Law,  if  deemed  necessary, 
and  that  they  submit  their  report  to  the  secre- 
tary of  the  Grand  Lodge  ninety  days  before  the 
next  meeting  of  this  Grand  Lodge,  which  officer 
shall  submit  the  same  to  the  lodges  of  the  Dis- 
trict for  their  approval  or  disapproval,  sixty 
days  before  such  session,  when  if  approved  by  a 
two-third  majority  of  all  the  lodges,  and  so  re- 
ported to  this  Grand  Lodgfe,  the  same  shall  be 
declared  a  law."  This  was,  of  course,  adopted. 
With  what  result  ? 

The  Endowment  Law  and  its  proposed  modi- 
fications were  widely  discussed  in  all  the  lodges 
— discussed  by  men  who  have  very  little  know- 
ledge and  a  mere  superficial  understanding  of 
th€  subject.  And  when  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
District  No.  5  met  in  January,  1881,  it  again 
adopted  the  worse  than  useless  Resolution,  that 
the  further  consideration  of  the  subject  of  En- 
dowment be  postponed  until  the  next  annual 
session  and  that  the  secretary  be  instructed  to 
have  printed  a  sufficient  number  of  the  reports 


204 

of  the  majority  and  minority  of  the  Endowment 
Committee,  together  with  the  proposition  of 
Rimmon  Lodge,  No.  68,  with  such  other  matter 
as  may  be  presented,  and  that  in  due  time  such 
information  be  forwarded  to  the  several  lodges. 

In  vain  had  the  worthy  president  of  the  Dis- 
trict Grand  Lodge  urged  immediate  action,  as 
follows  :  "  I  recommend  to  your  favorable  con- 
sideration the  amendments  to  the  Endow- 
ment Law  proposed  by  the  special  committee. 
I  am  prompted  to  do  so  because  I  believe  a 
change  of  the  existing  law  absolutely  essential, 
in  order  to  secure  a  prosperous  future  for  our 
institution.  ...  If  the  present  system  shall 
be  continued,  it  can  be  demonstrated  with 
mathematical  precision  that  early  in  the  next 
century  the  heirs  of  members  must  be  deprived 
of  their  promised  legacies.  This  result  is  the 
inevitable  sequence  of  the  action  of  the  spend- 
thrift, who  improvidently  lavishes  more  than  his 
income,  and  in  a  few  years  becomes  bankrupt. 

Taking  the  past  decade  for  our  guidance  we 
must  admit  that  if  the  present  law  remains  in- 
tact, the  death  assessments  will  be  multiplied 
until  they  will  become  a  heavy  burden,  and 
thereby  prevent  an  infusion  of  youthful  blood 


205 

into  the  infirm  body.  .  .  .  It  is  therefore 
our  duty  to  enact  a  law  that  will  improve  the 
present  system,  and  arrest  the  future  danger 
that  threatens  to  weaken  the  resources  and 
strike  at  the  vitality  of  the  Order."     .     .     . 

'*  Recent  irregularities  and  violations  of  law 
by  some  of  our  lodges  in  the  mode  of  accounting 
and  investing  this  fund,  and  the  dilatory  action 
of  other  lodges  in  transmitting  the  assessment 
for  deaths,  prove  that  its  transfer  to  the  Grand 
Lodge  would  not  only  be  most  judicious,  but 
highly  advantageous  from  every  point  of  view. 
It  would  then  become  a  sacred  trust  fund,  the 
account  of  which  would  be  correctly  kept  and 
promptly  rendered  ;  each  member  would  know 
the  exact  amount  he  was  required  to  pay ;  the 
assessments  would  then  be  promptly  settled,  the 
principal  and  interest  invested  in  accordance 
with  law,  each  year  swelling  its  volume,  until  it 
shall  have  augmented  to  such  a  sum  that  the  in- 
terest accruing  therefrom  will  materially  decrease 
the  future  taxation  of  each  member  of  the 
District." 

"  I  can  present  no  stronger  argument  in  sup- 
port of  the  proposed  law  than  to  state  that  a 
similar  system  has  obtained  in   District  No.  2, 


ao6 

where  it  has  been  in  practical  operation  with 
most  favorable  results  for  the  past  seven  years. 
.  The  experience  of  a  sister  jurisdiction, 
where  the  plan  has  been  fairly  and  favorably 
tested  for  several  years,  is  an  exhaustive  argu- 
ment in  its  favor.'' 

But  the  representatives  did  not  listen  to 
arguments.  They  preferred  to  refer  the  subject 
to  their  constituents  —  to  the  **  sovereign 
lodges." 

It  is  the  curse  of  democratic  governments 
that  the  most  ignorant  people  claim  equal  suf* 
frage  in  determining  all  questions,  regardless  of 
the  degree  of  knowledge  they  possess — regard- 
less  of  other  qualifications  which  an  intelligent 
and  able  consideration  may  require.  They  are 
free  men,  hence  they  deem  it  their  prerogative 
to  decide  what  they  wish  or  wish  not  to  do,  they 
will  not  concede  that  others  may  know  better 
what  they  should  do.  The  more  intelligent 
among  the  people  expect  and  demand  of  their 
representative  that  he  fully  inform  himself  and 
decide  in  his  wisdom,  according  to  his  honest 
conviction,  what  is  best  for  the  people.  But 
most  representatives  prefer  not  to  take  this  res- 
ponsibility ;  they  hesitate  in  adopting  measures 


207 

of  whose  excellence  and  justice  they  are  sure, 
su-nply  because  they  have  no  faith  in  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  majority  of  their  constituents,  and 
are  swayed  more  by  their  fear  of  the  noisiest 
and  most  ignorant  of  these,  than  by  a  longing 
for  the  silen:  praise  of  the  best  and  wisest  men, 
or  of  their  own  conscience. 

Is  it  to  be  wondered  then,  that  the  average 
member,  seeing  his  chosen  representative  waver- 
ing, disregard mg  the  voice  of  science  and  the 
lessons  of  experience,  coming  home  to  ask  for 
instructions,  instead  of  teaching — is  it  to  be 
wondered  then,  that  the  people  lend  their  ear  to 
fallacies,  and  do  not  recognize  them  as  such 
until  they  have  to  suffer  from  their  bad  results  ? 
Goethe  lets  his  Mephisto  truly  say  : 
"fStxd^tt  ttur  93ernunft  unb  3BtJTenf(^aft 

SaJT  nur  in  33lenb*'«nb  3<^^^^^  totxUn 
^id^  i)on  bem  Sugengeijl  U^axUn— 
@o  ^abMcl  bic^  f^on  unbebfngt." 

Thus  year  after  year  passed  away  without 
bringing  about  the  much-desired  and  much- 
needed  reform  in  District  No.  5. 

In  the  year  1881,  however,  an  alarming  death-, 
roll  aroused  the  members  to  the  importance  of 


208 

this  matter.  There  had  been  no  epidemic* 
From  purely  natural  causes  thirty  one  members 
(nearly  15  in  a  thousand)  had  died  during 
that  year,  and  the  District  was  compelled, 
under  the  then  existing  law,  to  use  considerable 
of  the  sinking  fund.  Difficulties  arose  in  draw- 
ing on  the  different  lodges  for  the  proportionate 
share  of  the  fund  held  by  each  of  them.  Circu- 
lars had  to  be  issued  by  the  general  committee 
recommending  the  lodges  to  abstain  from  mak- 
ing investments,  and  the  President  found  it 
necessary  to  have  the  securities  of  the  Endow- 
ment sinking  fund  examined  and  to  give  special 
instructions  not  to  install  the  trustees  of  any 
lodge  whose  accounts  were  not  kept  in  accord- 
ance with  the  law. 

In  order  to  induce  the  lodges  to  consent  to  a 
centralization  of  the  sinking  fund,  the  Endow- 
ment committee  proposed  that  each  lodge  sur- 
render the  small  sum  of  $7  for  each  of  its  mem- 
bers, but  Eliah  Lodge,  No.  50,  proposed  to 
amend  even  this  to  two  dollars  only.29  Neither 
proposition,  however,  prevailed. 

29.  On  Jan.  1st,  1882,  the  District  had  2270  members, 
and  the  Endowment  sinking  fund  was  reported  to  amount 
to  $48,547,  equal  to  nearly  $22  for  each  member. 


209 

In  view  of  the  experienced  great  increase  in 
mortality,  however,  an  amendment  was  adopted 
providing  for  quarterly  endowment  dues  of  $3.75, 
payable  to  the  trustees  of  the  lodge.  These 
should  invest  the  surplus  in  U.S.  bonds,  to  be 
registered  as  follows  :  ''^Endowment  sinking  fund 
of  District  Grand  Lodge,  No,  5,  /.  O.  B.  B., 
subject  to  the  order  of Lodge,  No, — , 

/.  a  B.  B. 

But  the  registering  officer  of  the  U.S.  Treasury 
Department  immediately  observed  that  this  form 
of  issue  leaves  the  control  of  the  bonds  in  doubt; 
and  he  ruled  against  this  form.  In  his  letter  of 
Nov.  27  th,  1882,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  S.  B.Wolfe, 
secretary  of  the  D.  G.  L.  :  **  Assuming  that  the 
bonds  belong  to  the  sinking  fund  of  the  Grand 
Lodge,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  trustees  should 
be  appointed  (if  there  are  now  none),  and  the 
bonds  should  be  inscribed  :  *  The  trustees  of  the 
Endowment  sinking  fund  of  District  Grand  Lodge, 
No.  5,  L  (9.  B.  B:  " 

Many  other  difficulties  presented  themselves 
under  this  system,3o  and  the  President  felt  justi- 

30.  Hasmonea  Lodge,  No.  45,  had  $5000  of  the  Endow- 
ment sinking  fund  invested  in  4  per  cent.  U.  S,  bonds,  and 
afterwards  had  these  converted  into  a  3}^  per  cent,  certifi- 


2IO 

fied  in  declaring  to  the  G.L.  session  in  February, 
1883,  that  "the  working  of  this  law,  on  its  pre- 
sent plan,  has  not  been  satisfactory."  Hasmonea 
Lodge  instructed  its  representatives  to  that  G.L. 
session  for :  "  centralization  of  Endowment 
fund ;  each  lodge  contributing  one-half  of  its 
present  sinking  fund,  and  the  other  half  to  flow 
back  into  the  lodge  fund  of  each  lodge.'* 

The  committee  on  Endowment  presented  a 
report,  submitting  an  entirely  new  Endowment 
law,  wherein  the  assessments  were  reduced  to 
$13  annually ;  the  management  and  investment 
of  the  funds  were  to  be  entrusted  to  a  board  of 
trustees,  composed  of  thirteen  past  presidents  of 
lodges  of  this  District.  The  securities  and 
moneys  then  held  by  the  lodges,  as  custodians 
of  the  Endowment  sinking  fund  were  to  be  sur- 
rendered to  the  said  board  of  trustees,  elected 
under  this  law,  and  to  be  invested  by  said  board 


cate,  at  a  profit  of  about  $600.  The  lodge  held  the  amount 
so  gained  as  a  portion  of  its  lodge  fund,  claiming  that  the 
Grand  Lodge  had  no  authority  to  inquire  into  the  matter, 
but"  must  be  satisfied.  The  general  committee,  on  the 
contrary,  claimed  that  all  profits,  premiums  or  interest  de- 
rived from  investments  of  the  Endowment  sinking  fund 
must  accrue  to  this  fund  and  be  so  accounted  for. 


I 


211 

of  trustees  in  U.  S.  securities,  and  registered  in 
the  name  of :  "  The  Trustees  of  the  Endowment 
sinking  fund  of  District  No.  5,  /.  O,  B,  B"  (as 
suggested  by  the  U.  S.  Reg ) 

To  make  this  law  the  more  acceptable,  or,  as 
the  committee  expressed  it,  "  to  meet  the  views 
and  wishes  of  the  entire  brotherhood  in  this 
District,"  it  further  recommended  that  each 
lodge  be  exempted  from  the  payment  of  Endow- 
ment dues  from  the  ist  of  April  to  the  30th  of 
Sept.,  1883,  inclusive,  amountingto$6.5o,and  that 
said  sum,  instead  of  being  paid  to  the  Endow- 
ment fund,  should  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of 
each  lodge.  But  this  new  law  was  not  to  take 
effect  unless  approved  and  adopted  by  a  ma- 
jority of  the  lodges  of  this  District. 

The  Grand  Secretary  duly  submitted  this  pro- 
posed law  to  the  lodges,  and  in  h^'s  own  report 
for  the  year  ending  Dec.  31,  1882,  remarked  : 
**  It  is  claimea,  and  with  apparent  correctness, 
that  similar  benefits  can  be  obtained  in  other 
institutions  and  societies  for  less  money.  We 
have  said  with  apparent  correctness,  but  we 
believe  that  time  will  show  that  our  plan  of  en- 
dowment is  the  safest,  and  thereby  necessarily 
the  cheapest  form  of  co-operative  insurance.    Its 


212 

present  cost  is  caused  by  the  provision  in  our 
law  creating  and  maintaining  a  sinking  fund  to 
provide  against  future  contingencies.  This 
sinking  fund  is  the  guarantee,  and  the  only  one 
we  have,  against  an  increase  of  assessments, 
which  must  in  time  become  burdensome  unless 
a  fund  of  the  kind  is  provided.  We  do  not  be- 
lieve that,  the  sinking  fund  should  be  tampered 
with,  but  should  be  maintained  inviolate, 
strengthened,  secured,  and  never  touched  ex- 
cept when  needed." 

And  yet,  as  shown,  the  destruction  of  that 
sinking  fund  was  demanded  by  the  lodges.  The 
proposed  new  Endowment  law,  adopted  by  their 
Grand  Lodge,  after  protracted  and  laborious 
meetings,  sugar-coated  all  over  with  so-called 
liberal  provisions,  aiming  "to  meet  the  wishes  of 
the  entire  brotherhood,"  was  rejected  by  the 
lodges.31  This  was  the  result  of  their  being  the 
custodians  of  the  Endowment  fund,  instead  of 
its  being  kept  separate,  under  the  management 


31.  The  law  was  declared  rejected  on  a  tie  vote — 16 
lodges  voting  for  and  16  lodges  against  the  proposed  En- 
dowment law.  The  votes  of  two  lodges  were  thrown  out 
on  account  of  informalities.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Jedid- 
JAH  and  Hasmonea  Lodges  had  voted  for  the  law. 


213 

of  a  board  of  trustees  of  the  Grand  Lodge.  Yet, 
results  far  more  serious  were  to  be  the  issues  of 
that  injudicious  measure,  dictated  and  fostered 
by  a  foolish  local  pride  and  a  more  than  foolish 
distrust.  Are  Grand  Lodges  anything  else  than 
the  chosen  members  ot  the  lodges  ?  chosen  for 
their  devotion  to  the  Order;  brothers  who,  after 
years  of  faithful  services  in  different  stations, 
have  proven  themselves  worthy  of  the  confidence 
of  their  brethren. 

At  its  next  convention,  in  Feb.,  1884,  the 
Grand  Lodge  felt  it  below  its  dignity  to  attempt 
any  further  amendments  to  the  Endowment  law 
with  the  exception  of  prescribing  the  form  of 
registry,  in  compliance  with  the  ruling  of  the 
U.  S.  Treasury  Department,  as   follows  .•  "  The 

trustees  of Lodge^  No, yl.O.B.B., 

in  trust  for  the  Endowment  sinking  fund  of  Dis- 
trict Grand  Lodge,  No.  5,  /.  O.  B.  B'' 

In  the  month  of  May,  1884,  the  attention  of 
the  general  committee  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
two  lodges — Jedidjah,  No.  7,  and  Hasmonea,  No. 
45 — wilfully  violated  their  obligations,  and  by 
a  vote  of  a  large  majority  of  their  members  refused 
to  comply  with  the  law  (to  register  the  bonds 
of  the  Endowment  fund  ^^ in  trust''  oi  District 


214 

Grand  Lodge,  No.  5),  and  it  was  feared  that 
these  funds  would  be  made  away  with.  To  pre- 
vent this,  said  two  lodges  were  suspended,  in- 
junctions were  issued  and  receivers  temporarily 
appointed.  A  special  meeting  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  was  called  to  consider  this  grave  matter; 
the  same  was  held  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  August 
19th,  1884,  and  the  charters  of  Jedidjah,  No.  7, 
and  Hasmonea,  No.  45,  the  two  oldest  and 
largest  lodges  of  the  Pistrict,  were  declared  for- 
feited ;  the  general  committee  was  empowered 
to  obtain  possession  of  their  funds  by  legal  pro- 
ceedings, and  to  the  loyal  members  of  said  two 
lodges  proper  protection  was  secured.  Thes^ 
members  at  once  petitioned  for  a  new  charter, 
and  in  Sept.,  1884,  two  new  lodges.  Loyal  Lodge, 
No.  350,  and  Fidelity  Lodge,  No.  353,  new  in 
name,  but  old  in  loyal  devotion  to  the  Order  of 
B'nai  B'rith,  arose  from  the  ashes  of  the  two 
extinct  lodges. 

Jedidjah  Lodge,  No.  7,  and  Hasmonea  Lodge, 
No.  45,  appealed  against  the  action  of  D.  G.  L., 
No*  5,  to   our  court  of  appeals,32  which  court 

32 .  The  grounds  of  appeal,  the  answer  of  the  District 
Grand  Lodge  and  the  opinions  of  the  court  are  fully  pub- 
lished with  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Convention  held 


215 

affirmed  the  action  of  the  District  Grand  Lodge. 
The  two  lodges  were  lawfully  expelled  and  the 
appeal  dismissed. 

At  the  next  following  annual  convention  of 

in  New  York,  March,  1885,  pages  191-234.  ;  all  the  judges 
of  our  court  concur,  except  only  J.  Moses,  dissenting.  He 
bases  his  opinion  for  sustaining  the  appeal  on  the  ground 
that  the  forfeiture  in  the  case  at  bar  was  ordered  at  a 
SPECIAL  MEETING  of  the  Grand  Lodge.  The  law  of  the 
Order  provides  that  if  any  lodge  refuse  to  obey.  &c.  .  .  , 
and  if  such  refusal  be  persisted  in  until  the  meeting  of  the 
Grand  Lodge  next  following,  said  Grand  Lodge  shall  de- 
clare the  charter  of  such  offending  lodge  forfeited."  A  pro- 
vision for  forfeiture  will  always  be  strictly  construed  and 
the  act  will  be  jealously  watched  as  to  its  legality. 

In  the  circuit  court  of  Baltimore  the  case  was  decided  in 
favor  of  the  lodges  and  that  the  injunction  be  dissolved  and 
the  receiver  discharged.  Judge  Phelps,  of  that  court,  says, 
in  his  opinion  that :  *'  It  is  laid  down  as  a  rule,  absolutely 
without  exception,  that  equity  never  lends  its  aid  towards  the 
enforcement  of  forfeitures  and  penalties.*'  The  Judge  seems 
to  ignore  the  fact,  or  it  may  not  have  been  clearly  presented 
by  the  attorneys  of  the  District  Grand  Lodge,  that  the  En- 
dowment fund  is  a  district  fund  and  never  did  belong  to 
the  lodges;  furthermore  that  his  decision  works  a  forfeiture 
against  the  loyal  members  of  those  lodges.  The  amounts 
involved  are  :  Endowment  fund  in  custody  of  Jedidjah 
Lodge,  $9060.45  ;  in  the  custody  of  Hasmonea  Lodge, 
$8787.25.     The  case  will  now  go  to  the  court  of  appeals. 


2l6 

District  Grand  Lodge,  No.  5,  held  at  Washing- 
ton, D.C.,  Feb.  25th,  1885,  the  firm  and  dignified 
action  of  the  President,  displayed  on  occasion:* 
that  threatened  the  future  weal  and  existence  of 
the  District,  received  the  highest  commenda- 
tion. 

And  yet,  when  it  came  to  adopting  his  recom- 
mendations with  regard  to  the  Endowment  fund, 
his  counsel  did  not  prevail.  In  his  report  the 
President  said:  *'The  lesson  to  be  learned  from' 
the  unfortunate  troubles  of  the  two  rebellious 
lodges  of  Baltimore  is,  to  my  mind,  the  most 
convincing  argument  that  the  most  doubting 
could  exact,  that  no  Endowment  law  can  be 
secure  unless  based  upon  the  requisite  of  a 
centralized  sinking  fund  administered  by  officers 
directly  appointed  and  controlled  by  the  Grand 
Lodge.  I  therefore  most  earnestly  recommend 
that  some  measure  that  will  accomplish  that 
idea  be  at  once  inaugurated,  and  the  disgraceful 
proceedings  of  the  past  year  will,  in  my  judg- 
ment, never  again  be  chronicled  in  the  history 
of  the  Order.  .  .  .  .To  your  earnest, 
thoughtful  consideration  I  commend  this  ques- 
tion as  one  that  involves  the  permanency,  even 
existence,  of  the  Order We  must 


217 

build  a  wall  around  the  ark  of  our  Endowment 
fund  that  will  be  a  perpetual  bar  in  the  future 
to  any  subordinate  lodge,  at  its  pleasure,  con- 
verting that  fund  to  its  own  use ;  and  that  can 
only  be  done  by  some  system  of  centralization." 
The  committee  on  Endowment  also  recom- 
mended, with  four  against  one  member,  that  the 
fund  be  centralized.  The  minority  report  of 
one^  however,  claiming  that  it  would  involve  an 
expense,  if  the  majority  report  were  adopted, 
was  put  upon  its  passage  and  adopted.  Also  a 
proposition  to  reduce  the  contributions  from 
$3.75  to  $3.00  per  quarter  for  this  year;  but  the 
suggestion  of  the  eminent  Secretary  of  the  Dis- 
trict, that  the  law  be  amended  "  so  as  to  allow 
the  general  committee  to  levy  an  assessment, 
sufficient  to  pay  one  Endowment,  in  advance  of 
the  actual  requirements,  thereby  avoiding  delays, 
nearly  inevitable  under  existing  laws" — was  not 
acted  upon  at  all. 

The  argument  brought  forward  that  **  it 
would  involve  an  expense,"  may  be  seen  in  its 
true  light  when  we  consider  that,  in  District 
No.  5,  under  the  system  of  keeping  the  funds 
in  the  care,  management  and  custody  of  the 
lodges,  it  requires  thirty- four  boards  of  trustees 


2l8 

and  the  keeping  of  its  accounts  by  thirty-four 
secretaries  ;  under  the  system  of  centralization 
it  needs  but  one  board  and  only  the  Secretary  of 
the  District,  who  must  after  all  correspond  and 
keep  those  accounts  with  every  lodge.  But  in 
the  one  case  this  may  be  done — but  how  done  ! 
— without  pay  ;  in  the  other  the  District  Secre- 
tary might  probably  be  allowed  a  few  hundred 
dollars  of  additional  compensation.  Which  is 
the  proper,  cheaper,  better  method  ? 

The  late  Constitution  Grand  Lodge  has  de- 
cided this  point  at  least. 

But  there  is  another,  far  more  important  rea- 
son for  relieving  the  lodges  from  the  custody 
and  management  of  the  Endowment  fund, 
namely,  the  removal  of  troublesome  money 
matters  and  their  discussion  from  the  lodge- 
room,  whose  atmosphere — freed  from  that  heavy 
cloud  which  darkened  its  light  and  caused  many 
a  storm — might  then  become  clear,  pure,  more 
attractive  to  its  members.  Should  they  then 
fail  to  make  it  so,  fail  to  cultivate  the  higher 
aims  and  objects  of  the  Order,  the  reason  could 
no  longer  be  designated  by — "  all  on  account  of 
Endowment.'* 


219 

Let  us  now  look  at  District  No.  6.  The 
progressive  character  of  our  Order  in  this  Dis- 
trict is  an  established  fact ;  the  best  representa- 
tives of  modern  enlightened  Judaism  may  be 
found  in  its  ranks.  It  possesses  a  phalanx  of 
brethren  who  are  serving  the  advancement  of 
the  Order  with  ability,  fidelity  and  unremitting 
zeal.  Nevertheless,  as  shown  in  the  former  part 
of  this  study  (pages  48-58),  this  District  was  un- 
successful in  its  attempts  to  adopt  a  sound  plan; 
but  there  is  no  bitter  feeling  about  it ;  their 
Trustees  of  the  Endowment  Reserve  Fund 
wisely  said  :  *'  Like  all  other  human  devices,  our 
system  of  endowment  has  its  imperfections,  but 
the  benefits,  so  far,  overshadow  these,  that  we 
can  afford  to  ignore  them." 

Thus,  for  years,  the  endowment  was  carried 
on,  under  the  fifty  cents  assessment  plan,  pro- 
ducing a  small  surplus  at  each  case  of  death. 
This  surplus  gradually  increasing  from  $100  to 
about  ^270,  as  the  membership  and  the  number 
of  deaths  increased,  was  erroneously  deemed 
*<  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  wishes  of  our  most  ar- 
dent supporters  of  a  large  reserve  fund." 

Had  the  membership  continued  to  increase  in 
the  same  ratio  as  it  had  up  to  1882,  this  rate  of 


assessments  would  gradually  have  reached,  and 
even  exceeded,  $15  per  annum  ;  and  investing 
its  accumulation  at  seven  per  cent,  interest,  as 
its  trustees  did,  it  would  finally  have  produced 
the  necessary  reserve  ;  but,  as  their  President 
correctly  remarked  in  his  message  to  this  Dis- 
trict Grand  Lodge  meeting  at  Peoria,  in  Jan., 
1882:  "  Already  the  history  of  the  last  few  years 
shows  us  that  the  time  for  a  rapid  increase  of 
membership  is  gone  ;  the  attractions  oifered  by 
the  Order  have  been  in  existence  long  enough 
to  have  induced  all  those  to  join  who  have 
passed  the  first  meridian  of  manhood,  and,  gen- 
erally speaking,  our  recruits  are  now  from  the 
young  men,  and  are  not  more  than  enough  to 
keep  our  membership  numerically  about  the 
same." 

But  the  death-rate  cannot  remain  the  same — 
In  1876  .  .  -9  members  died. 

**  1877    ...  9 

"  1878  .  .  .10 

"  1879    .  ,  .  18 

"  1880  .  .  .17 

''  1881    .  .  .  22 

"  1882  .  .  .28 

And  the  President,  directing  attention  to  the 


221 

fact  that  it  must  largely  increase  in  future  time, 
said:  "The  2500  members  in  the  District  are  all 
bound  to  die  during  the  next  forty  years,  making 
an  average  of  over  sixty  a  year  .  ,  ,  and 
that  man  must  be  blind  who  cannot  see  that,  at 
some  future  time,  the  yearly  death-rates  will  be 
as  much  above  sixty  as  they  hitherto  have  been 
below.  But  long  before  that  time  shall  have 
come,  our  endowment  system,  unless  put  on 
some  enduring  basis,  will  have  gone  to  wreck 
and  ruin,  and  drawn  our  Order  with  it  into  one 
common  gulf  of  destruction.  .  .  .  The  only 
remedy  against  these  terrible  consequences  lies 
in  the  establishment  of  a  rapidly  increasing 
sinking  fund.  It  should  have  been  established 
long  ago." 

But,  through  1882,  the  system  remained  un- 
changed. Every  motion  to  amend  the  Endow- 
ment law,  was  objected  to  as  inadmissible  under 
the  laws  of  this  District,  which  required  a  peti- 
tion of  two-thirds  of  its  lodges  before  any  pro- 
position changing  sections  i  and  2  of  their  en- 
dowment law  could  be  entertained  by  the  Grand 
Lodge.  The  President,  an  eminent  jurist, 
doubted  the  validity  of  a  law  depriving  the 
Grand  Lodge  of  the  power  to  legislate,  and  the 


222 

restriction  was  finally  repealed  ;  nevertheless, 
the  same  Grand  Lodge  decided,  by  a  vote  of  35 
against  23,  that  at  this  convention  the  rate  of 
assessment  (50  cents  at  every  death)  remain 
undisturbed. 

Already  at  the  next  Grand  Lodge  Convention, 
however,  a  new  endowment  law  was  enacted, 
which  provided  for  fixed  endowment  dues  of  $15 
annually,  payable  in  quarterly  instalments  of 
$3.75.  The  Grand  Secretary's  report  to  that 
session  showed  that,  under  the  system  of  50 
cents  assessments  without  limitp  an  emergency 
may  arise,  at  any  moment,  compelling  the  secre- 
tary to  make  assessment  for  an  extraordinary 
number  of  deaths,  in  consequence  of  which 
many  members,  especially  the  younger  ones, 
would  withdraw,  and  the  influx  of  new  members 

33.  The  system  of  50  cents  assessments  without  limits 
is  theoretically  quite  sound  for  a  membership  exceeding  two 
thousand,  as  it  will  produce  over  $1000  as  long  as  that 
membership  does  not  decrease  ;  and  the  surplus  accumu- 
lated while  the  number  of  members  is  above  2000,  would 
probably  cover  the  deficit  when  it  falls  below  that  number  ; 
but  the  assessments  must,  sooner  or  later,  become  very 
burdensome,  and  consequently  this  system  is  impracti- 
cable. 


223 

would  be  stopped  for  ever.  In  fact  he  already 
had  to  make  a  levy  for  five  deaths  in  the  month 
of  July  of  that  year,  and  members  were  about  to 
withdraw  in  great  numbers,  so  that — but  for  the 
promise  of  changing  the  law  and  limiting  the 
contribution  at  the  next  Grand  Lodge  session,  a 
stampede  would  have  been  the  result.  And 
thus  it  came  that  in  January,  1883,  the  long- 
desired,  oft-defeated  system  (similar  to  the  one 
of  District  No.  2)  was  adopted,  by  a  vote  of  58 
to  4:  ^^all  delegates  voting  in  the  affirmative  except 
Bros,  Geo,  Braham^  Max  Stern^  Isaac  Weil  and 
D.  W.  Simoftr 

But,  shortly  after  the  adjournment,  a  few  dis- 
satisfied members  distributed  a  **remonstrance"34 

34.  This  Remonstrance  was  a  mere  reiteration  of  the 
sufficiently  controverted  opinion  that  * 'one  generation  should 
not  be  made  to  hoard  a  large  capital  for  future  generations;'' 
that  **  the  sinking  fund,  however  large  this  sum  may  be  in 
the  annual  report,  may  eventually  prove  to  be  so  only  on 
paper;"  that  "the  law  is  injurious  to  the  interest  of  the 
Lodges  of  the  District,  &c.;'*  that  "it  was  hastily  (!)  passed, 
without  du3  notice  and  proper  consideration  "  and  "should 
be  immediately  repealed,*  for  which  purpose  a  special 
meeting  of  District  Grand  Lodge,  No.  6,  should  be  called. 
For  all  of  these  statements  the  remonstrance  offered  neither 
proof  nor  argument.     It   merely  stated  that  "  it  would  be 


224 

demanded  a  call  for  a  special  session,  and 
finally  agreed  that  the  constitutionality  of  the 
new  law  be  tested  by  an  appeal  to  the  court  of 
appeals.  Two  prominent  members — a  rabbi  and 
a  lawyer — championed  the  appeal.  The  rabbi 
admitted  *'  that  the  purest  motives  actuated  the 
enthusiastic  advocates  of  that  law,"  and  "  that 
only  an  enormous  reserve  fund  could  secure  the 
permanency    of    our    endowments ;  "     but    he 

best  to  subdivide  the  Endowment  Reserve  Fund,  pro  rata, 
to  the  lodges,  and  have  every  lodge  keep  its  own  fuid, 
subject  to  the  disposition  of  the  Grand  Lodge.  Thereby  the 
fund  would  always  be  secure  and  safe.  Vide  District  No. 
5  !  and  also  District  No.  7,  whose  President  said  in  his 
message,  delivered  in  May,  1885:  "  The  only  argument  in 
favor  of  allowing  the  fund  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
different  lodges,  is  the  one  of  safety  against  defalcation. 
On  the  other  hand,  experience  has  demonstrated  that 
where  the  fund  is  divided  into  a  number  of  smaller  ones, 
a  large  pioportion  thereof  necessarily  remains  idle  and  the 
balance  is  not  invested  to  best  advantage.  The  income 
from  the  fund  will  be  largely  increased  and  its  safety 
guaranteed,  if  the  whole  fund  be  consolidated  and  placed 
under  the  management  of  a  Board  of  Trustees.  Our  ex- 
perience at  Vicksburg,  with  the  fund  of  Enrogel  Lodge, 
must  convince  the  most  skeptical,  that  even  under  our 
present  system  (said  lodge  holding  its  own  share  of  the 
fund),  we  are  not  safe  against  loss.*' 


225 

thought  that  it  was  not  legally  enacted  ;  that  it 
was  in  conflict  with  the  laws  of  the  State  of 
Illinois — as  he  had  been  told  by  his  brother  the 
lawyer.  The  latter  gentleman  tried  to  make  the 
members  believe  that  the  mere  change  from  post 
mortem  assessments  to  quarterly  dues,  would  sub- 
ject us  to  all  the  burdens  imposed  upon  regular 
Life  Insurance  Companies,  that  it  would  cause 
the  Attorney-General  of  the  State  of  Illinois  to 
file  information  against  the  District,  and  that 
the  penalties  provided  for  by  statutes  as  punish- 
ment for  those  who  prosecute  the  business  of 
life  insurance  unlawfully  would  be  incurred. 
Nobody  knew  better  than  that  very  lawyer,  that 
there  was  not  the  least  danger  of  any  such  re- 
sult. The  statute  of  Illinois,  herein  referred  to, 
was  adopted  in  favor  of  corporations  not  for 
pecuniary  profit^  and  at  the  request  of  benevolent 
organizations  intended  to  benefit  the  widows, 
orphans  and  devisees  of  their  members;  the  law 
was  intended  for  our  protection;  and  no  attor- 
ney-General would  ever  have  instituted  quo 
warranto  proceedings,  on  the  ground  that  our 
society  might  quarterly  collect  a  stipulated 
amount. 

The  framers  of  said  statute  considered  assess- 


226 

ments  as  one  of  the  features  that  distinguished 
benevolent  societies  from  regular  life  insurance 
companies  collecting  annual  premiums. 

To  remove  this  mere  shadow  and  at  the  same 
time  comply  in  form  with  the  State  law,  the 
General  Committee  expressly  empowered  by  the 
Grand  Lodge  "  to  properly  frame  that  Endow- 
ment law"  and  ^*see  to  the  correct  phraseology 
thereof" — changed  the  wording  of  Section  2 
accordingly;  but  this  by  no  means  satisfied  the 
appellants.  And  the  appeal  was  sustained;  not 
however  because  of  a  conflict  with  the  State 
law,  but  simply  for  the  omission  of  a  formality; 
the  NAMES  of  those  voting  for  it  were  not  re- 
corded;  three  judges  only  concurring,3s  three 
not  voting,  and  one  dissenting! — With  the  ex- 
ception of  two,  all  lodges  of  the  District  had 
paid  the  first  quarter,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  appeal  was  then  pending. 

This  decision,  however,  annulled  the  new  law 
and  the  District  had  to  be  governed  by  the  old 
one.     Had  the  new  Endowment  law  been  main- 


35  It  was  rumored  that  the  vote  was  2  for  and  2  against 
the  appeal — and  that  the  judge  from  District  No.  6,  who 
favored  the  appellants,  finally  succeeded  in  bringing  one 
judge  over  to  his  side. 


227 

tained  the  increase  of  the  Reserve  fund  would 
have  been  more  than  double  the  amount  for  that 
year.  The  Trustees  say  in  their  report  that  in 
their  opinion  that  the  decision  arrived  at  by  the 
court  was  "prompted  by  a  mistaken  generosity/* 
that  the  anxiety  felt  about  the  safety  of  the 
Reserve  fund  was  groundless  and  had  given  way 
to  more  rational  reasoning. 

Irreparable  injury  was  done  by  that  appeal 
and  its  decision; — a  by  far  greater  harm,  a  far 
more  deplorable  injury  than  the  loss  of  a  few 
thousand  dollars  of  the  Reserve  fund.  The 
District  was  in  a  vortex  of  excitement,  if  not 
strife.  The  General  Committee  itself  was  di- 
vided on  this  endowment  question,  and  though 
the  executive  officers  tried  to  steer  the  ship 
safely  through  the  tempest  aroused  by  the 
struggle,  there  was  a  decline  in  membership  and 
the  District  had  made  a  step  backward.  A 
larger  number  of  members  than  ever  before 
allowed  themselves  to  be  suspended  for  non- 
payment of  dues  while  the  dues  were  less  than 
in  the  preceding  year.  Hence  it  was  quite 
natural  that  the  President  who  had  most  zeal- 
ously labored  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  in- 
stitution he   so  dearly   loved,   felt  discouraged. 


228 

In  his  message  to  the  Grand  Lodge  meeting, 
held  at  Chicago  in  January,  1884,  he  attributes 
the  situation  to  "the  unwholesonieness  of  the 
appeal  and  the  dissensions  in  the  General  Com- 
mittee."    He  says: 

**It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  Honorable  Court 
seemingly  evaded  the  rendering  of  a  decision  upon  the 
vital  points  at  issue,  and  apparently  resorted  to  finding 
a  technical  flaw.  This  must  have  been  as  disap- 
pointing to  the  appellants  as  to  every  other  member 
who  had  interested  himself  in  the  case,  especially  to 
those  fifty-eight  of  the  sixty-two  members  attending 
our  last  year's  session,  who  were  happy  in  the  thought 
of  having  placed  our  District  on  firmer  footing  than  it  , 
had  ever  been. 

**  That  the  Law  had  worked  satisfactorily  to  all, 
excepting  probably  to  a  small  fraction,  was  shown  by 
the  prompt  payment  of  nearly  all  amounts  due  to  the 
Endowment  Fund. 

''Aside  of  the  mischief  done  by  reason  of  the  appeal 
to  the  progress  of  the  Lodges,  the  Reserve  Fund  is 
minus  about  $i2,ooo,wliich  if  in  the  treasury,  would  be 
at  least  one  important  factor  in  contributing  to  the 
stability  of  our  institution.  Our  members  became 
accustomed  to  the  systematic  payment  of  their  dues. 
The  majority  ot  Lodges  that  had  not  already  adopted 
the  regular  installment  plan  in  previous  times,  found 
its  workings  now  admirable   for  the  convenience    of 


229 

njembers  and  the  collection  of  outstandings,  and  I 
can  say  with  the  fullest  assurance,  that  had  this  fire- 
brand not  been  thrust  into  the  plans  and  work  of  the 
present  administration,  I  would  be  enabled  to  lay 
before  you  better  results  of  our  labors  than  I  do/* 

After  referring  to  the  breach  in  the  General 
Committee,  eventuating  in  continuous  differ- 
ences of  opinion  on  nearly  all  issues  and  in 
threats  of  asking  the  courts  to  issue  an  injunc- 
tion, he  continues  thus: 

"It  may  be  justifiable  from  a  legal  standpoint,  to 
clog  the  wheels  of  a  benevolent  institution;  it  may 
also  be  allowable  to  discuss  in  pubHc  places,  highways 
or  halls,  the  justness  of  laws  and  measures,  but  the 
motives  of  issuing  inflammatory  circulars,  threaten- 
ing prosecution*  arousing  animosities  and  the  like 
action  must  certainly  be  regarded  somewhat  inconsis- 
tent with  those  requisites,  which  should  form  part  of 
men's  good  intention  in  an  order  like  ours,  especially 
as  impeUing  them  to  protect  and  assist  widows  and 
orphans.  It  was  only  through  the  wise  councils  of 
some  of  our  most  distingished  members  that  these 
contaminating  influences  were  checked." 

And  in  his  melancholy  mood,  while  memory 
watched  o'er  the  sad  review  of  the  past  year,  he 
tried  to  consider  some  of  the  causes  of  the  de- 
cline  and   the  possible  remedies.     The  former 


230 

appear  to  him  to  centre  in  the  Endowment  ques- 
tion. He  thinks  that  before  its  insidious  en- 
trance in  our  organization  ....  few  if  any  of 
our  old  members  joined  the  Order  B'nai  B'rith 
with  the  expectation  of  reaping  any  benefit  in 
a  material  sense;  he  supposed  that  the  bene- 
ficence to  the  needy  widow  and  orphan  directly 
bestowed  by  the  Lodges  was  far  in  excess  to  the 
present  advantages,  derived  from  the  $1,000 
Endowment  benefit;  he  saw  in  the  shadowy  past 
the  Lodge  meetings  well  and  regularly  attended 
and  suspensions  scarcely  known. 

The  oraer  of  things  has  greatly  changed, — he 
remarks. — The  man  who  does  not  want  his  life 
irsured  is  excluded  from  membership;  thus 
many  worthy  men,  men  with  no  selfish  purpose 
in  view,  are  kept  out  and  many  would  not  join 
us  because  of  the  compulsory  law,  who  would  do 
so  if  this  feature  were  not  enforced. 

The  president  then  proceeds  to  consider  the 
remedies;  and  he  recommends,  first  the  enact- 
ment of  laws,  "making  it  optional  with  members 
and  applicants  to  remain  or  become  endowment 
members,"  and  he  supports  this  recommenda- 
tion with  warm  eloquence. 

I  have  dwelt  at  such  length  on  this  president's 


231 

message  because  it  is  the  first  official  document  of 
that  kind  which  has  given  impetus  to  this  rather 
popular  demand  for  an  optional  endowment^  and 
its  author  is  certainly  entitled  to  highest  regard, 
both  for  ability  and  purity  of  motives. 

But  is  it  true  that  many  would  join  if  the  En- 
dowment feature  were  optional  ?  By  no  means! 
Would  the  former  method  of  each  Lodge,  giving 
a  small  stipend  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  its 
deceased  members,  be  more  satisfactory  and 
become  less  oppressive  ?  Certainly  not.  Those 
who  have  **worked  and  watched  "  for  our  Order, 
those,  who,  like  myself,  have  long  opposed  the 
introduction  of  assessment-insurance  to  our  bro- 
therhood, know  that  the  demand /<:7r  it  was  gen- 
eral and  irresistible;  know  that  the  failure  to  in- 
troduce it  in  District  No.  2,  caused  the  separation 
of  the  Southern  Lodges,  forming  District  No.  7; 
know  that  kindred  Jewish  organizations  owe  their 
rise  to  the  demand  for  endowment.  Many  would 
not  join  us  of  late — not  because  they  do  not 
want  insurance,  but  because  they  can  get  ^t  for 
less  in  other  societies,  and  some  withdrew  for 
the  same  reason.  O,  yes,  if  endowment  could 
be  made  optional,  with  the  privilege  of  joinmg 
thereafter,  at  afty  time,  discontinuing  and  rejoin- 


232 

ing  at  pleasure,  this  would  be  considered  very 
nice.  But  it  cannot  be  done  under  a  system  of 
uniform  contributions,  and  should  not  be  allowed 
under  any  system  in  fraternal  organizations. 
In  District  No.  7  the  endowment  has  lately  been 
made  optional  to  young  men  until  they  reach  the 
age  of  thirty.  My  proposed  Endowment  law 
submitted  to  the  late  Constitution  Grand  Lodge 
by  the  Executive  Committee,  recommended 
making  it  optional  for  young,  unmarried,  up  to 
age  of  thirty-five.  This  is  the  utmost  extent  to 
which  optional  endowment  might  be  permitted. 
As  soon  as  a  brother  gets  married  and  assumes 
the  responsibility  of  providing  for  his  family — it 
becomes  his  duty  to  insure  the  same  against 
misery  and  want  in  case  of  his  demise.  And 
if  some  brethren,  while  enjoying  health  and 
strength,  forget  that 

**Death  still  draws  nearer,  never  seeming  near;" 
if  Others,  blessed  with  ample  means  and  flatter- 
ing prospects,  forget  that 

"Riches  take  unto  themselves  wings;'* 

if  some  fool  pretends  to  be  sure  of  the  distant 
future,  to  need  no  protection,  and  not  to  care 
for  the  welfare  of  ^'future  generations" — 

''Yet  ne'er  looks  farther  than  his  nose;** 
then  ^''Let  the  wise  make  the  rest  obey,  ^^ 


^2>Z 

The  committee  on  endowment  of  that  Dis- 
trict Grand  Lodge  (Jan.,  1884)  endorsed  the 
recommendation  of  the  President  to  make  the 
endowment  optional ;  yet  it  did  not  prevail ;  nor 
did  the  proposition  to  charge  75  cents  at  each 
assessment  limiting  these  to  twenty  per  year,  as 
was  proposed  in  a  new  Endowment  law,  pre- 
pared by  the  General  Committee.  Said  law  was 
adopted  after  a  long  and  hot  discussion,  amend- 
ed, however,  to  unlimited  assessments  at  50  cts.; 
thus  virtually  remaining  the  same  as  before. 

At  the  end  of  another  year,  (January,  1885), 
the  President  of  District  Grand  Lodge  No.  6, 
reported  that  "  the  dissatisfactions  and  contro- 
versies of  the  preceding  year  regarding  the 
Endowment  proved  to  be  a  thing  of  the  past 
under  the  present  law,  and  peace  and  harmony 
prevailed  ...  It  will  remain  so  until  the 
number  of  deaths  will  exceed  the  expectations 
of  those  who  desire  to  legislate  only  for  to-day 
without  any  regard  of  what  will  come  to-morrow, 
and  then  it  will  be  discovered  that  the  turmoil 
of  last  year  is  only  *aufgeschoben — nicht  aufge- 
hoben,'  and  will  again  break  forth  with  greater 
force  and  energy  than  before."     .... 


234 

^^ I  hope  that  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge  will 
be  able  to  solve  this  problem''  He  also  favored 
"  Optional  Endowment,"  but  says:  "  Were  it 
not  for  the  vested  rights  of  those  who  have 
joined  our  Order,  partly  induced  thereto  by  this 
very  Endowment,  I  would  hail  with  joy  the  day 
on  which  the  entire  Endowment  would  be 
abolished." 

But  the  majority  of  the  members  will  not  con- 
sent to  its  abolishment.  The  eminent  Trustees 
of  the  Endowment  Fund  of  District  No.  6,  said 
in  their  last  report:  ^'  The  Endowments  paid 
have  proven  very  beneficial  in  most  cases,  and 
in  many  instances  the  only  source  of  revenue 
and  sustenance  left  to  its  recipients,  thereby  not 
only  alleviating  misery  but  furnishing  the  means 
for  self-support.  Let  us  earnestly  hope  and 
strive  that  we  may  always  be  able  to  give  sub- 
stantial aid;  that  our  system  of  Endowment  be 
placed  upon  a  basis  of  permanency,  furnishing 
lasting  benefits  to  those  who  receive  them  and 
happiness  to  us  who  sustain  this  noble  monu- 
ment of  our  Order." 

District  No.  6,  with  its  young  vigorous  mem- 
bership,   its    salubrious     climate,    with    ample 


235 

material  for  numerical  increase,  with  a  reserve 
fund  of  over  $60,000,  and  further  accumula- 
tion, invested  at  over  six  per-  cent,  interest; 
this  District  will  be  able  to  protect  all  its  mem- 
bers' widows  and  orphans  at  the  rate  of  $15  per 
annum.  And  though,  in  later  years,  the  advance 
in  age  and  decline  in  the  rate  of  interest  may 
make  a  slight  increase  of  the  annual  assessments 
necessary — say  to  $18 — then,  when  the  many 
bubbles  of  cheap  insurance  will  have  burst? 
this  will  be  readily  assented  to  by  the  very  mem- 
bers who  have  heretofore  objected  to  $15. 
Moreover,  this  amount  would  soon  be  exceeded 
at  the  present  rate  of  50  cents  on  every  death. 
I  cannot  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  next  Grand 
Lodge  will  already  place  the  Endowment  fund 
of  District  No.  6,  on  a  sound  and  enduring 
basis;  and  that  the  long  struggles  and  ordeals 
she  has  passed  through  will  be  spared  to  her 
future  sessions.  I  hope  that  those  who  think 
that  most  of  our  members  have  joined  the  Order 
induced  by  the  Endowment,  and  at  the  same 
time  believe  it  is  the  Endowment  that  keeps 
many  men  from  joining  us — will  recognize  the 
self-contradiction  of  these  two  assertions. 
There  are,  no  doubt,  some  men  who  were  partly 


236 

attracted  by  the  natural  desire  to  secure  pro- 
tection for  those  dearest  to  them  in  life — when 
they  themselves  will  be  called  hence,  there  may 
be  a  few  others  who  are  kept  from  us  by  the 
insurance  feature,  and  many  more  by  being 
offered  greater  benefits  for  less  money  in  other 
societies.  It  must  be  our  aim  to  do  right;  not 
to  please  all. 

Let  those  who  seek  only  the  sham  of  cheap 
insurance — stay  out;  let  those  who  joined  our 
Order  for  no  other  purpose — withdraw  in  peace. 

District  No.  7,  has  been  the  subject  of  this 
study  in  the  first  pages  of  this  long,  sad  chapter 
(Part  III).  The  opinion  therein  expressed  as  to 
the  grave  errors  of  its  Endowment  laws — which 
the  late  Grand  Secretary  considered  "  as  perfect 
as  human  heads  could  frame  them," — has  lately 
been  endorsed  by  the  President  of  that  District, 
who  said  in  his  address  to  the  Grand  Lodge 
(May  1885),  "The  plan  formulated  and  adopted 
at  the  Galveston  Convention  in  1882,  depends 
for  its  success  upon  a  steady  revenue  of  at  least 
four  per  cent  upon  our  reserve,  and  an  annual 
increase  of  our  membership  of  not  less  than  one 
per  cent.     Anything  less  than  these  conditions 


237 

renders  an  Endowment  system  unsafe/*  But 
their  reserve  fund,  instead  of  increasing  and 
accumulating  at  interest — decreases.  On  Dec. 
31st,  1884,  it  was  $5,851  less  than  on  the  year 
previous;  it  now  amounts  to  less  than  $12,000. 
There  is,  besides,  a  District  Endowment  fund 
held  by  the  various  (62)  lodges.  The  amount 
of  this  fund  cannot  be  ascertained  from  the  last 
G.  L.  report.  In  the  President's  address  to  the 
preceding  G.  L.  meeting  (1884),  it  was  stated 
that:  "the  large  proportion  of  the  whole  fund  is 
uninvested,  said  to  be  *in  currency,*  and  bearing 
no  interest;  some  of  the  lodges  carry  their  whole 
fund  in  this  shape.  The  message  of  my  honored 
predecessor  recommended,  and  the  Dallas  Con- 
vention ordered,  that  all  such  sums  should  be 
invested,  but  no  attention  has  been  paid  to  this. 
I  venture  the  assertion  that  this  currency  is  not 
laid  up  in  stockings  or  safe  drawers,  nor 
deposited  in  bank  to  the  credit  or  this  particular 
fund;  and  lodges  who  allow  the  trustees  to  use  it, 
should  be  made  to  pay  the  interest,  which,  by 
their  neglect  of  duty,  the  District  fails  to  obtain." 
The  entire  financial  condition  of  the  funds  for 
this  District  is  in  confusion. 

In   January    1879,    after   the   epidemic,    the 


238 

membership  of  District  No.  7,  was  2665,  since 
then  it  has  annually  decreased,  until  in  January 
1884,  it  was  reduced  to  2318.     There  is  no  com 
plete   report   for  the  year   1884,   owing  to  the 
sickness  and  subsequent  death  of  the  Secretary 

And  in  the  face  of  these  undeniable  facts,  the 
members  of  the  Executive  Committee  for  the 
District^  in  February  1885,  reported  that  ^*they 
regard  their  own  Endowment  as  near  perfection 
as  can  be  reached.''     Comment  is  unnecessary. 

This  condition  of  the  Endowment  in  our 
various  Districts — ^threatening  the  peace  and 
harmony,  assailing  the  honor  and  integrity  of  the 
Order, — besides  other  questions  affecting  the 
welfare  of  our  brotherhood, — prompted  our  M. 
W»  President,  Bro.  Julius  Bien,  to  call  a  meeting 
of  the  Executive  Committee.  He  said:  "unless 
the  evil  is  speedily  checked,  I  fear  that  disturb- 
ances and  disruptions  may  follow,  which  it  would 
be  too  late  to  heal.  I  have  repeatedly  called 
attention  to  the  seriousness  of  this  question,  and 
to  the  inevitable  consequences  involved  in  a  dis- 
regard or  the  true  principles  underlying  a  safe 
and  secure  Endowment  law;  but  my  warnings 
have  not  been  heeded.  I  see  no  other  way  out 
of  the  present  dilemma,  in  the  absence  of  any 


239 

other  authority,  than  through  the  action  of  a 
General  Convention,  where  the  representative 
men  of  the  Order,  in  their  united  wisdom,  will 
determine  upon  the  means  and  measures  neces- 
sary to  prevent  the  Order  from  being  diverted 
from  its  true  course,  and  give  a  fresh  impulse  to 
its  higher  and  nobler  aspirations.'' 

The  Executive  Committee  met  and  resolved 
that  the  lodges  be  communicated  with  for  that 
purpose.  In  conformity  with  this  resolution, 
the  lodges  were  called  upon  to  express  their 
opinion  for  or  against  a  special  Convention;  and 
m  that  call  the  Executive  Committee  stated  as 
one  of  the  reasons  which  had  actuated  them  to 
take  this  step,  the  following: 

"The  Widow  and  Orphan  Endowment  having 
caused  so^reat  an  agitation  in  most  of  the  Districts 
as  to  overshadow  nearly  every  other  object  of  the 
Order,  threatens  to  seriously  interfere  with  its  pro- 
gress and  prosperity. 

The  Endowment  law  has  been  declared  to  be 
within  the  scope  of  the  Order  by  our  last  Convention; 
it  therefore  behooves  the  Order  to  spread  such  safe- 
guards  around  it  as  to  advance  rather  than  to 
jeopardize  the  welfare  of  our  Districts  and  Lodges, 
and  to  assign  to  it  its  proper  position  in  our  bene- 
volent aspiration." 


Part  IV. —  The  General  Cofivention^  ^^8^. 


A  large  majority  of  the  lodges  voted  in  favor 
of  holding  the  proposed  special  meeting  of  the 
Constitution  Grand  Lodge.  The  solution  of  the 
Endowment  question  was  generally  considered 
to  be  its  engrossing  topic.  The  supreme  legis- 
lature of  the  Order  met  at  Tammany  Hall,  New 
York,  on  March  ist,  1885,  about  two  hundred 
delegates  attending.  The  message  of  ihe 
President  of  the  Executive  Committee  set  forth 
the  fact  that  there  were  also  other  potent  topics 
demanding  serious  attention  and  consideration. 
This  admirable  paper,  which  should  be  studied 
by  every  brother,  says  with  reference  to  the 
spirit  then  prevailing  in  the  Order: 

"  There  is  a  deeply  felt  want,  a  want  of  genuine 
unity  and  true  fraternal  concord  amongst  our  Districts. 

There  seems  to  be  a  lack  of  some  tangible  object 
which  would  create  closer  relations  and  call  into 
action  the  Order  as  an  entirety. 

Material  interests,  which  of  late  have  taken  an  un- 


242 

due  prominence,  may  safely  be  left  in  the  care  of  the 
Districts ;  they  offer  no  common  rallying  point ;  on  the 
contrary,  some  of  these  material  interests,  as  will  be 
shown,  have  rather  a  tendency  to  disturb  the  har- 
mony of  our  Order  and  to  imperil  its  welfare. 

The  old  fl?me  of  enthusiasm  must  be  rekindled  if 
we  mean  to  arrest  the  growing  indifferentism ;  the 
higher  principles  must  again  be  brought  to  the  fore- 
ground; the  life-giving  spirit  must  be  evoked  to  re- 
establish the  solidarity  of  the  Order,  from  which  we 
are  drifting  away. 

Without  it  we  have  no  future.*' 

With  reference  to  the  Widow  and  Orphan 
Endowment  the  words  of  that  message  are  as 
follows: 

"  One  of  the  prmcipal  objects  of  the  Order  from  its 
inception  was  the  care  and  support  of  the  Widows 
and  Orphans  of  deceased  brethren. 

The  provisions  made  for  them  in  the  early  days 
were  rather  scant,  but  conformed  to  the  modest 
demands  of  the  time. 

With  the  growth  of  the  Order,  the  changed  con- 
dition and  requirements  of  life,  as  well  as  the  natural 
increase  in  the  number  of  deaths  from  year  to  year, 
the  revenue  derived  from  the  small  Widow  and  Or- 
phan funds  of  the  Lodges  proved  insufficient,  and  it 
became  evident  that  a  change  in  the  existing  method 
was  necessary. 


243 

After  extend^^d  discussions  of  various  propositions 
made  by  committees  appointed  for  the  purpose, 
District  Grand  Lodge  No.  i  adopted  an  amendment 
to  its  by-laws,  whereby  each  member  of  the  District 
(then  numbering  over  4,000)  contributed  twenty-five 
cents  at  the  death  of  a  brother,  and  the  sum  of  $1,000 
was  paid  to  the  Widow  and  Orphans.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  our  present  Endowment  system. 

In  time  all  the  other  Districts,  from  the  same  neces- 
sity, adopted  the  Endowment  plan,  variously  formu- 
lated into  laws,  which  were  changed  and  altered  as 
occasion  demanded,  or  ill-advised  reduction  of  assess- 
ments prompted.  An  attempt,  made  at  the  Conven- 
tion of  1874  in  Chicago,  to  consolidate  the  interests  of 
all  the  Districts  into  a  General  Endowment  for  the 
whole  Order,  failed,  but  the  declaration  was  made, 
*That  the  establishment  of  Widows'  and  Orphans' 
Endowment  Funds  is  within  the  legitimate  scope  of 
the  aims  and  objects  of  the  Order.' 

Doubts  soon  arose  as  to  the  permanency  of  the 
institution  on  the  plan  pursued,  and  wholesome  and 
sound  advice  was  not  wanting.  It  remained  unheed- 
ed, however,  because  of  a  general  disinchnation  to 
consider  future  needs,  largely  engendered  by  a  clamor 
for  cheap  insurance,  and  a  want  of  comprehension  of 
the  principles  involved. 

The  progressive  death  rate  brought  with  it  addition- 
al taxation,   which  threatened  to  become  oppressive, 


244 

and  beyond  the  means  of  many  brethren,  if  not  check- 
ed by  remedial  legislation. 

District  No.  2  alone  adopted  a  law  insuring  the 
permanency  of  its  endowment. 

District  No.  7  unwisely  mcreasing  its  endowmenc 
to  $1,000,  surrounded  its  law  with  some  safeguards. 

District  No.  i,  in  the  face  of  strenuous  and  con- 
tinued opposition,  has  still  accumulated  a  reserve 
fund,  which  as  yet  is  by  no  means  sufficient,  but  all 
the  attempts  of  the  better  informed  and  well-meaning 
brethren  have  failed  to  make  adequate  provision  for 
the  future. 

Districts  Nos.  4,  5  and  6.  the  first  with  an  Endow- 
ment of  $2,000,  have  repeatedly  changed  their  laws, 
and  with  some  improvement,  but  ty  no  means  meet- 
ing the  requirements  of  the  case  ;  while  Districts  No. 
3,  has  made  no  provi^^ion  whatever  for  future  demands 
that  will  assuredly  be  made. 

It  is  fifteen  years  since  the  endowment  law  was 
passed  in  District  No.  i,  and  a  crisis  is  approaching 
in  this,  as  in  other  Districts. 

A  feeling  of  uncertainty,  of  lurking  danger,  has 
become  widespread;  fallacies,  which  appeal  powerfully 
to  the  ignorant  and  mercenary,  such  as  to  perpetuate 
an  average  age  by  the  accession  of  new  members^ 
and  to  profit  by  it  in  obtaining  a  large  life  insurance 
by  small  payments,  have  at  last  been  generally  dis- 
sipated, but  without  changing  the  fatal  course,  lead- 
ing inevitaWy  to  disaster. 


245 

To  aggravate  the  situation,  many  of  our  brethren 
have  affiliated  with  other  Jewish  societies  offering 
endowment  benefits  similar  to  our  own,  and  for  no 
other  apparent  purpose  than  to  secure  a  larger  amount 
of  cheap  life  insurance. 

Th^  burden  thereby  assumed  has  proven  too  heavy 
for  many,  hence  the  outcry  against  onerous  taxation 
and  the  constantly  swelling  list  of  suspensions  for  non- 
payment of  dues. 

An  agitation  detrimental  to  every  other  interest  has 
consequently  been  kept  up  for  several  years.  In 
Grand  Lodge  meetings  the  endowment  is  the  pre- 
dominant, all-absorbing  subject  of  interminable, 
passionate  and  profitless  discussion.  Lodges  have 
taken  a  threatening  attitude,  and  complications  aris- 
ing out  of  this  question  have  already  led  to  the  ex- 
pulsion of  two  of  the  older  Lodges  from  the  Order^ 
A  solution  of  this  problem  must  be  speedily  arrived  at, 
as  it  is  evident  that  a  continuance  of  the  present  state 
of  affairs  will  defeat  the  benevolent  object  sought  to 
be  attained,  bankrupt  existing  endowment  funds  and 
carry  in  its  wake  want  and  distress  to  many  homes, 
as  well  as  destruction  to  a  portion,  if  not  to  the  whole 
Order. 

Widows'  and  Orphans'  endowment  funds  have  been 
sanctioned  by  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge ;  it 
becomes  now  its  solemn  and  imperative  duty  to  avert 
the  dangers  which  have  arisen  from  their  establish- 
ment. 


14^) 

The  endowment  fenture  must  either  be  entirely 
eliminated  from  the  Order,  relegating  to  the  Lodges 
the  support  of  their  widows  and  orphans,  as  their 
meaos  will  permit,  or  a  District  Widow  and  Orphan 
Endowment  law,  permanent  in  its  character,  honest, 
just  and  equitable,  must  be  engrafted  on  our  Consti- 
tution. 

Such  a  law  should  be  based  on  principles  tersely 
stated  by  Brother  Bush  : 

I.  Man  is  mortal,  and  the  inevitaole  decline  of  life 
cannot  be  neutralized  by  adding  more  lives. 

a.  To  pay  out  a  certain  sum  at  the  death  of  every 
member,  the  aggregate  amount  must  also  be  paid  by  the 
members. 

3.  As  some  men  die  before  they  can  have  paid  as  much 
as  their  beneficiaries  receive,  others  must  make  good  that 
deficiency. 

4.  This  deficiency  must  be  made  good  by  paying  in 
the  early  years  a  sum  sufficient  to  accumulate  a  reserve 
which,  increased  by  interest,  will  balance  the  deficiency. 

"  Such  a  law  has  been  prepared  by  Brother  Bush. 

It  is  presented  to  you  with  my  earnest 

endorsement.  Its  adoption  will  ensure  for  all  future 
time  the  incalculable  benefits,  of  whiuh  the  past  has 
furnished  a  brilliant  example,  it  will  open  the  doors  cf 
our  Lodges  to  men  at  the  best  time  of  life,  who  have, 
until  now,  been  excluded  by  the  limitation  of  age,  and 
by  ending  a  hurtful  agitation,  give  way  to  a  calm  pur- 
suit  of  our  intellectual  and  ethical  aspirations,  and 


247 

attract  to  our  ranks  the  young  men  of  Israel,  who  are 
our  hope  and  reliance  for  the  perpetuation  of  our 
beloved  Order.^ 

Against  his  desire  the  writer  was  appointed 

I.  This  proposed  Endowment  law  is  published  as  Ap- 
pendix No.  3  to  the  *' Proceedings  of  the  General  Conven- 
fion  of  the  I.O.B.B.,  held  in  New  York,  March  i-6,  1885," 
pages  237-24-5. 

Before  proceeding  any  further,  the  originator  of  that  law 
wishes  to  state  that  he  has  been  materially  aided  in  framing 
the  same  by  some  of  the  ablest  brothers  of  the  Order.  It 
was  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  the  framers  of  the  law  to  make 
it  as  satisfactory  to  all  reasonable  demands  as  was  possible 
without  sacrificing  any  fundamental  principle  of  justice  and 
safety;  and  yet  under  that  unwise  and  unjust  system  of 
representation — now  fortunately  abolished — its  acceptance 
by  a  two-thirds  majority  of  the  delegates  elected,  was 
doubtful.  This  doubt  grew  as  propositions  from  different 
lodges  and  members  were  presented.  Some  asked  for  a 
consolidation  of  all  Districts  under  one  general  Endowment 
law ;  others  protested  against  any  and  every  interference 
with  their  District  Endowment. 

The  author  of  this  Study  has  not  thought  of  proposing  a 
consolidated  Endowment  fund.  For,  however  wise  and 
beneficial  such  a  plan  would  have  been,  if  adopted  in  1874, 
the  condition  of  the  District  Endowment  funds  of  that  time 
differs  so  widely  from  that  of  the  present  Endowment  funds, 
and  these  differ  so  widely  from  each  other,  as  to  make  it 
altogether  impracticable. 


248 

Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Endowment. 
This  committee  consisted  of  eleven  members 
from  the  various  Districts,  and  held  protracted 
sessions.  Though  unanimous  in  cordially  en- 
dorsing and  recommending  the  proposed  law-^ 
yet  the  eighteen  dollar  clause  was  strongly  ob- 
jected  to  ;  it  being  held  by  some  that  in  their 
Districts  the  annual  contribution  need  not  be 
more  than  fifteen  dollars.  In  vain  was  it  repre- 
sented to  them  that  the  great  desideratum  was  a 
UNIFORM  rate  and  a  complete  law  which  would 
free  the  Grand  Lodges  from  all  further  discus- 
sions and  dissensions  concerning  Endowment 
legislation;  that  $18  was  certainly  safer;  that  in 
case  of  a  continuance  of  favorable  conditions  of 
mortality  and  interest  in  any  District,  its  Grand 
Lodge  would,  in  later  years,  be  enabled  to  en- 
tirely exempt  its  members — after  reaching  the 
age  of  seventy  five — from  paying  any  assess- 
ments; a  feature  much  to  be  desired,  but  impos- 
sible of  accomplishment  at  less  than  $18.  In 
vain  were  these  and  other  arguments  used  ;  the 
majority  of  ihe  committee  declared  itself  ready 
to  sign  a  report  in  favor  of  adopting  the  law  as 
recommended  by  the  President  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee-f  J^romded  the  rate  be  changed  to 


249 

**NOT  LESS  THAN  $15  ANNUALLY.'*  The  dele- 
gates of  District  No.  6  sent  assurances  to  the 
committee  that,  if  so  amended,  the  proposed  law 
would  receive  their  almost  unanimous  vote,  but 
not  otherwise.  Several  members  of  the  com- 
mittee would  not  decide  whether  or  not  to  sign 
such  report,  until  submitted  to  them  in  writing. 
Hence  the  chairman  felt  himself  instructed  to 
report  as  follows : 

*'We  fully  recognize  the  fact  that,  with  advancing  age 
and  the  inevitable  increase  of  mortality,  the  endow- 
ment system  would  becoire  very  burdensome  and  end 
in  disastrous  failure,  unless  it  were  placed  on  a  sound 
and  enduring  basis. 

"Attempts  to  improve  the  prevailing  system  and 
provide  for  the  necessary  reserve  funds  have  absorbed 
the  time  and  attention  of  most  of  our  Grand  Lodge 
sessions,  without  satisfactory  lesults  and  to  the  great 
detriment  of  the  progress  of  our  lodges. 

"  The  experience  of  the  last  decade  has  fully  de- 
monstrated the  fact  that  there  is  no  hope  of  obtaining 
a  correct,  sound  and  enduring  endowment  system 
through  District  legislation  before,  it  would  be  too 
late.  Some  may  think  that  it  would  be  of  no  great 
consequence  were  the  endowment  system  to  fail,  argu- 
ing that  the  Endowment  Fund  is  not  the  Order  B'nai 
B'rith;  and  that,  having  existed,  grown  and  flourished 


250 

without  endowments,   it   could   again  exist   without 
them. 

''Certainly  it  could  had  they  never  been  introduced ; 
but,  having  been  introduced,  and  being  at  present  a 
part  of  our  Order,  we  deem  it  incumbent  upon  us  to 
make  our  endowment  system  an  honest  and  per- 
manent one.  Were  we  to  maintain  a  delusion,  making 
it  impossible  to  keep  faith  with  our  brethren;  were  we 
to  permit  and  sustain  a  deception,  it  would  become 
disastrous  to  a  great  number  of  our  members,  a  dis- 
grace to  our  Order,  and  consequently  its  ruin. 

"  The  undersigned  members  of  your  committee, 
therefore,  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  this  Constitution  Grand  Lodge,  and  would  be 
to  the  best  interest  of  our  fraternitv,  to  pass  a  law 
which  shall  be  binding  on  those  Districts  of  our  Order 
that  intend  to  carry  on  and  maintain  an  Endowment 
Fund. 

"  Should  the  members  of  any  District  prefer  to  per- 
severe in  Its  present  scheme,  those  members  might 
form  a  separate  organization  under  whatever  name 
and  jurisdiction  they  please,  but  such  organization 
should  certainly  not  be  allowed  to  bear  the  honored 
name  of  the  Independent  Order  B'nai  B'rith,  nor  to 
form  an  integral  part  of  our  Order. 

"  The  law  which  we  submit  for  your  consideration 
and  adoption  is,  with  some  few  modifications,  the  one 
prepared  by  the  Chairman  of  this  Committee,  and  com- 


mended  to  you  by  the  President  of  the  Executive 
Coromittee  in  his  message  to  this  Comvention. 

"  It  is  not  a  plan  for  one  General  Endowment  Fund, 
but  merely  a  safe  guide  for  every  District  'desiring  to 
carry  on  and  maintain  an  Endowment  Fund/  in  con- 
ducting it  on  a  sound  and  enduring  basii;  it  is  a 
system,  not  merely  theoretically  correct,  but  which 
has  been  tried  and  has  proved  eminently  successful  in 
District  No.  2. 

**  It  has,  besides,  some  new,  liberal  and  beneficial 
features,  which  would  prove  of  value." 

The  only  material  change  made  was,  to  strike 
out  $18,  and  insert  in  lieu  thereof  the  words, 
"not  less  than  fifteen  dollars  ($15)  annually 
for  each  participating  member;"  and  the  report 
expressly  states  that : 

"While  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  may  be  fully 
justified  in  proposing  $18  annually,  as  the  lowest 
amount  required  in  some  Districts  for  the  safety  and 
perpetuity  of  the  Endowment — we  believe  that  in 
Districts  with  a  younger  membership,  and  where  the 
investment  of  funds  at  a  higher  rate  of  interest  than 
five  per  cent,  can  safely  be  made,  the  annual  contribu- 
tion need  not  be  more  than  $15,  at  least  for  the 
present." 

This  report  was  signed  by  six  members  of  the 
committee — the   others  signed  a  minority  re- 


252 

PORT,  which  "  cordially  endorsed  the  plan  sub- 
mitted by  Bro.  Bush  as  a  wise,  efficient  and 
satisfactory  scheme  of  Endowment  tor  the 
Districts;  but,  in  view  of  the  local  statutes  of 
several  States  of  the  Union,  the  difficulty  of 
avoiding  any  infringement  of  contract  rights, 
and  the  legal  complications  that  must  necessarily 
arise  in  the  attempt  to  enforce  a  law — obligatory 
upon  District  Grand  Lodges  adopting  the  en- 
dowment feature — it  would  be  inexpedient  and 
impracticable  to  recommend,  at  this  session,  the 
passage  of  a  system  of  endowment  operating 
alike  upon  all  the  Districts." 

The  reports  were  considered  together,  and  a 
very  animated  discussion  ensued. 

Bro.  Sifhon  M.  Roeder  of  New  York,  Vice- 
President  of  the  Convention,  from  District  No. 
t,  made  an  eloquent  speech  against  both  reports; 
appealing  to  the  Convention  not  to  send  the 
delegates  home  without  settling  this  burning 
question.  He  believed  that,  for  District  No.  i, 
the  rate  required  would  be  no  less  than  twenty 
dollars;  but,  relying  on  the  expert  knowledge  of 
Bro.  Bush,  would  have  been  satisfied  with 
eighteen  dollars.     The  members  of  his  District 


253 

were  now  paying  very  nearly  fifteen  dollars  and 
— under  its  present  system  of  paying  14  cents 
per  capita  for  each  death  up  to  one  and  a  half 
per  cent  of  its  membership— their  annual  con- 
tribution would  soon  reach  or  even  exceed  $18; 
but  by  adopting  a  law  which  sanctions  a  rate  of 
$15,  every  advance  would  be  obstructed.  The 
young  men,  though  willing  to  pay  more,  in  order 
to  lighten  che  burden  of  their  elder  brethren, 
were  not  willing  to  pay  for  the  benefit  of  those 
only  who  might  die  during  the  next  score  years, 
after  which  nothing  would  be  left  for  their  own 
protection. 

Bro.  J.  HiRSCH,  of  Vicksburg,  author  of  the 
minority  report,  made  flattering  comments  about 
the  proposed  law — but,  at  some  length  and  with 
great  force,  presented  the  legal  difficulties.  In 
his  District  (No.  7),  especially  where  an  Endow- 
ment of  $1500  was  guaranteed,  the  reduction  of 
the  benefit  to  $1000  would  be  looked  upon  as  a 
violation  of  the  sacred  character  of  funds 
accumulated  under  that  promise.  In  his  Grand 
Lodge  he  would  use  his  best  efforts  towards 
securing,  in  a  legal  and  peaceful  manner,  the 
adoption  of  an  Endowment  law,  similar  to  the 
one  proposed. 


254 

There  was  much  noise  and  confusion  in  the 
Hall,  and  it  was  often  impossible  to  hear  what 
was  being  said.  Some  speakers  seemed  to 
censure  the  chairman  of  the  committee  for  hav- 
ing abandoned  his  position,  in  reporting  con- 
trary to  his  own  opinion.  But,  as  a  reply,  he 
referred,  in  his  address  to  the  Convention,  to  the 
report  wherein  he  had  distinctly  stated  that  the 
members  of  the  committee  had  instructed  him 
thus  to  report.  He  said :  "If  it  were  your  intention 
to  erect  a  building,  strong  and  enduring,  you 
would  not  devote  yourself  to  the  study  of 
architecture  and  engineering,  you  would  not  ask 
your  physician,  your  banker,  or  your  tailor,  as 
to  how  you  should  proceed ; — you  would  consult 
an  expert  architect,  who  knew  what  you  wanted; 
you  would  let  him  make  the  plans  and  estimate 
the  cost.  You  now  wish  to  erect  a  tower  of 
protection,  an  institution  that  shall  stand  for 
centuries  to  come,  shall  brave  all  storms  and  be 
equal  to  all  emergencies,  not  only  tor  a  certain 
number  of  years,  but  for  ever.  Your  will  may 
determine  what  kind  of  protection  you  wish  to 
insure,  for  what  amount  you  wish  to  provide; 
but  you  cannot  say  you  will  do  so  with  so  many 
cents  of  assessments,  or  so  many  dollars  a  year. 


255 

The  plan  for  the  foundation  and  construction  as 
well  as  the  computation  of  its  cost  must  be  made 
by  the  scientific  expert.  Being  possessed  of 
some  knowledge  on  this  subject — the  result  of 
many  years  of  study  and  experience — I  have 
made  the  plans,  estimated  the  cost,  and  after 
careful  consideration,  due  examination,  and 
consulting  with  other  experts,  I  have  submitted 
the  plan  and  cost  for  your  investigation  and 
action.  Your  committee  endorse  the  plan  with 
rare  unanimity,  but  believe  that  in  some  localities 
the  cost  will  be  a  little  less  than  in  others.  This 
may  be.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  chairman  to 
report  as  the  committee  have  instructed  him. 
It  is  for  the  collective  wisdom  of  this  Convention 
to  decide  what  it  deems  best." 

Thereupon  Bro.  Simon  Wolf,  of  Washington, 
D.C.,  presented  the  following  substitute  for  both 
reports.2 

2.  Bro,  S.  Wolf  offered  his  substitute  verbally  only. 
The  secretary,  Bro.  Alfred  T.  Jones,  wrote  it  down,  and 
both  kindly  submitted  it  to  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
for  correction.  This  correction  was  made  hastily — many 
members  pressing  for  a  recess —  and  an  imperfect  wordmg 
was  the  result.  But  it  was  wisely  ordained  by  the  Conven- 
tion (Proceedings  page  157)  that  the  Executive  Committee 


256 

WIDOW  AND  ORPHAN  ENDOWMENT  LAW. 

Sect.  I.  The  creation  or  maintenance  of  any  en- 
dowment system  by  a  District  Grand  Lodge  shall  be 
left  entirely  to  the  option  of  such  Grand  Lodge. 

Sect.  2.  If  any  District  Grand  Lodge  shall  decide 
to  enact  a  law  providing  for  the  establishment  of  an 
endowment  system,  or  has  enacted  such  ^aw  and 
desires  to  maintain  the  same,  then  in  such  case  the 
annual  assessment  shall  be  fixed  at  a  rate  of  not 
less  than  fifteen  dollars  for  every  one  thousand  dol- 
lars guaranteed,  or  in  the  same  proportion  for  a 
fractional  part  thereof. 

Sect.  3.  Any  fund  that  may  be  created  under  the 
provision  contained  in  sect.  2,  shall  be  under  the 
absolute  control  of  the  District  Grand  Lodge,  and 
not  of  the  individual  lodges. 

Sect.  4.  This  law  shall  go  into  effect  April  ist, 
1886. 

A  motion  to  amend  by  inserting  '*  sixteen  "  in 
place  of  fifteen,  and  a  further  amendment 
offered  to  substitute  "eighteen  *'  in  place  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen,  were  both  rejected. 


have  power  to  make  verbal  and  grammatical  changes 
not  affecting  the  sense.  The  substitute  was  offered,  in- 
tended and  clearly  understood  by  all  members  present  as 
quoted  above ;  and  the  original  wording  does  not  admit  of 
a  different  sense — any  attempted  interpretation  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding. 


-^  257 

This  proves  that  it  would  have  been  worse 
than  useless  to  present  a  report  in  favor  of  the 
proposed  endowment  law,  without  the  change 
asked  by  the  committee. 

The  previous  question  being  ordered,  the 
substitute  proposed  by  Bro.  S.  Wolf  was  voted 
upon.  There  were  109  votes  in  the  affirmative 
and  only  48  in  the  negative ;  it  was  therefore 
declared  duly  enacted  as  part  of  our  Organic 
Law. 

Bro.  Thalmessinger  then  offered  the  following 
resolution,  which  was  adopted  without  dissent  : 

'''Resolved,  That  aside  from  the  Widow  and  Orphan 
Endowment  Law  just  passed  by  this  Convention, 
the  plan  submitted  to  the  Convention  by  Bro.  Isidor 
Bush  on  that  subject  is  earnestly  recommended  to 
the  consideration  of  the  Lodges  and  District  Grand 
Lodges,  as  representin?:  a  valuable  guide  to  those 
who  desire  to  see  the  endowment  fund  firmly  estab- 
lished.'* 

The  brief  law  adopted  by  the  Convention  en- 
forces the  same  fundamental  rules  as  are  con- 
tained in  the  proposed  law,  as  submitted  by  the 
committee.  By  changing  the  originally  proposed 
endowment  law,  especially  as  to  the  tax,  from 
"  eighteen  dollars "   to  "  not  less  than   fifteen 


258 

dollars,"  the  main  point  of  contention,  the 
RATE,  would  have  been  left  undetermined,  and 
the  object  intended  by  the  framer  of  that  law — 
the  uniformity  of  the  endowment  and  the  re- 
moval of  this  subject  from  the  forum  of  the 
District  Grand  Lodges — could  not  have  been 
attained;  it  seemed  preferable,  therefore,  that 
the  organic  law  should  simply  establish  the 
basis  on  which  the  Endowment  system  must  be 
reorganized  in  each  District,  or  else  discontinued. 
In  promulgating  the  Constitution  of  the  I.  O. 
B.  B.,  as  revised  and  amended  by  the  Conven- 
tion, the  circular  of  the  Executive  Committee 
of  April  25th,  1885,  contains  the  following  words 
in  reference  to  the  Widow  and  Orphan 
Endowment  Law: 

"It  is  just  and  right,  that  such  a  benevolent 
prevision  should  be  surrounded  with  the  proper  safe- 
guar'is,  to  secure  an  honest  and  certain  fulfilment  of 
our  promises,  and  in  this  view  the  Convention  has 
disposed  of  the  vexed  question. 

**  It  is  left  optional  with  the  District  to  have  an 
Endowment  Law  or  not  nor  has  the  amount  to  be 
provided  for  been  limited.  But  a  minimum  annual 
contribution  has  been  fixed  upon  below  which  no 
Endowment  law  can  be  safely  cairied  out,  nor  will 
hereafter  be  permitted  to  exist  in  the  Order.     Wher 


259 

ever  this  minimum  should  be  found  insufficient,  it  is 
left  to  the  respective  District  to  make  a  proper  adjust- 
ment adapted  to  its  condition. 

*'  It  is  earnestly  hoped  and  strongiy  recommended 
that  all  Districts  will  at  once  loyally  harmonize  their 
Endowment  Laws  with  the  Constitutional  Enactment, 
and  wisely  and  calmly  adopt  such  measures  as  will 
make  them  safe  and  permanent,  and  thereb>  forever 
remove  an  element  of  disturbance  and  discord.*' 

Whether  or  not  this  will  be  accomplished, 
whether  wise  counsel  will  prevail  and  measures 
be  adopted  securing  the  much  desired  end;  or 
whether  the  struggles  of  the  past  will  have  been 
in  vain, — the  hopes  for  a  harmonious  adoption 
of  safe  and  enduring  endowment  laws  by  our 
District  Grand  Lodges  be  again  disappointed, 
— the  near  future  will  show. 3 

A  study  of  the  history  of  our  Endowments, 
from  their  inception  to  the  present  day,  must 
surely  aid  in  a  correct  solution  of  this  problem. 
Even  three  hundred  years  ago.  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  already  said:   ^*we  may  gather  out  of 


3.  A  few  of  tthe  members,  plotting  the  disruption  of  the 
Order,  may  attempt  to  deny  the  right  of  the  Constitution 
Grand  Lodge  to  legislate  on  our  Endowment,  forgetting 
that  the  Constitution  Grand  Lodge  is  supreme,  and  they 
have  sworn  to  obey  its  laws. 


26o 

history  a  policy  no  less  wise  than  eternal;  by  the 
comparison  and  application  of  other  men's  fore- 
passed  miseries  with  our  own  like  errors."  And 
Carlyle,  the  great  historian  of  this  century  says: 
"  History  is  Philosophy  teaching  by  experience." 
Very  few  legislators,  however,  study  history;  and 
popular  delusions^  distrusts  and  prejudices^  long 
and  deeply  rooted  in  their  minds,  will  again  have 
to  be  fought. 

(i).  Delusions  about  ^^cheap  insurance^*^ 
opposing  a  large  reserve  as  unnecessary,  have 
been  amply  controverted  in  the  course  of  this 
study.  If  smaller  amounts  were  paid  in  the 
beginning,  much  larger  amounts  would  have  to 
be  paid  in  future  years,  when  the  members 
would  have  become  of  a  more  advanced  age 
and  finally  the  tax  would  become  too  burden- 
some to  bear.  No  assessment  insurance,  with- 
out large  reserve  fund,  can  practically  extend 
beyond  the  age  of  60  or  65  years.4  There  is, 

4.  At  the  age  of  65  the  mortality  (American  Table)  is  40 
in  1000,  increasing  with  each  year  until  at  the  age  of  70  it  is 
62  out  of  1000;  at  75  years  it  is  about  95  deaths  in  1000 ; 
hence  the  annual  net  cost  of  risk  must  be  just  as  many 
dollars  for  one  thousand  dollars.  Add  to  this  the  Insur- 
ance Companies'    charge  for  expenses  of    management, 


26 1 

no  hocus  pocus  in  existence,  whereby  men  can 
receive  more  than  they  contribute,  except  by  an 
accumulation  of  interest.  Those  who  promise 
larger  benefits  at  much  smaller  expenses  are 
sham  concerns,     Cornelius  Walford,  an  insur- 


which  is  about  $5  annually  on  $1000,  while  in  our  fraternal 
endowment  it  is  less  than  50  cents  per  annum  for  the  same 
amount  (as  we  employ  no  agents,  pay  neither  commissions  nor 
salaries,  except  to  one  District  Secretary)}  and  the  thinking 
brother  can  easily  form  his  own  judgment  about  the  pre- 
tences of  cheaper  insurance  in  other  societies.  But  facts 
speak  louder  than  all  arguments,  The  following  figures 
are  taken  from  the  most  prominent  associations'  own  reports 
for  1884  to  the  Insurance  Department : 

(A).  Showing  the  present  cost  per  $1000  insurance  in  some 
of  the  oldest  Assessment  Societies  : 

The  United  Brethren  Mutual  Aid  Society  of  Lebanon  ^  Pa.^ 
established  1870. 

Insurance  in  force  $11,702,000 — amount  paid  by  members,  ^470,972  ; 
cost  per  $rooo=$4o.27, 
Ohio  Mutual  Relief  Association.  Cincinnati  ^  O.^  established  iZt^, 

Insurance  in  force,  $1,686,000  -amount  paid  by  members,  $48,530  \ 
cost  per  $1000=  $28.78. 

In  many  of  the  older  societies  the  insurance  in  force  is  no  definite 
amount 

(B).  Showing  the  ratio  of  expenses  to  losses  paid  in  some 
of  the  leading  Assessments  Societies  : 

Mutual  Reserve  Fund  Life  Association^  New  York  City. 
Losses  paid  to  members,  $479,967  -  expenses  paid.  $300,306.    Ratio 
of  expenses  to  claims  paid,  62.5  per  cent. 


262 

ance  scholar  of  world-wide  reputation,  replied 
to  the  question :  whether  he  considered  it  an 
impossibility  for  an  assessment  society  to  suc- 
ceed ?  "  No,  I  certamly  do  not,  provided  the 
fundamental  principles  governing  life  insurance 
be  fully  and  properly  recognized;  but  these  very 
principles  seem  to  be  entirely  disregarded  by 
the  assessment  societies  working  on  t  is  con- 
tinent/' 

The  testimony  of  impartial  experts,  the  advice 
of  our  most  devoted  fellow-members,  facts  and 
figures,  experience  and  common  sense — all  com- 
bine to  disabuse  our  brethren  of  these  delusions; 
and  truth  will  finally  conquer. 

(2).  Distrusts,  a  fear  of  dishonesty  and  mis- 
management—by the  centralization  of  a  large 
fund  and  by  placing  it  in  the  hands  of  one 
Board  of  Trustees — -has  also  been  shown  in  its 


Fidelity  Mu'ual  Life  Association^  PhiladelphiUy  ha. 
Losses  paid  to  members,  $51  129 — expenses  paid  $51,910.     Ratio  ot 
expenses  to  claims  paid,  101.5  per  cent. 

North-  Western  Masonic  A  id  Association^  Chicago^  III. 
Losses  paid  to  members,  $468,997— expenses  paid,  ^,728.    Ratio  of 
expenses  to  claims  paid,  '^1.3  per  cent. 

IV.  &  O.  Endowment  Fund^  District  Grand Lodge^  No.  i, 
J.O.B.B..  New  York. 
Losses  paid  to  members,  $  100  000 — expenses  paid,  $2066.    Ratio  of 
expenses  to  claims  paid.  2.0  per  cent.    Sapiente  Sat. 


263 

futility.  The  history  of  District  No.  5  has 
illustrated  the  great  evils  of  charging  the  lodges 
with  the  custody  and  management  of  fractional 
parts  of  the  endowment  fund  ;  while  no  District 
that  has  placed  its  fund  in  the  care  of  one 
Board  of  Trustees  has  sustained  any  loss  what- 
ever. Moreover,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
the  reserve  fund  being  from  time  to  time  in- 
vested, as  it  accumulates,  in  bonds  and  mort- 
gages, there  are  never  more  than  a  few  thousand 
dollars  in  cash  money  on  hand,  for  which  the 
treasurer  gives  ample  security.  True,  we  often 
hear  of  defalcations ;  but  it  is  no  less  true  that 
innumerable  more  trusts  are  honestly  discharge^^d. 
The  hundreds  of  millions  held  in  trust  and 
annually  paid  out  by  our  monetary  institutions 
to  rightful  owners  and  beneficiaries,  provide  the 
truest  evidence  this  argument  may  require  ;  and 
only  the  vilest  carper  will  hint  that  we  have  no 
honest,  trustworthy  men. 

(3).  Prejudices.  There  prevail,  among  some 
of  the  best  and  brightest  of  our  members,  pre- 
conceived opinions  of  a  more  respectable  char- 
acter— notions  which,  though  incorrect,  still 
seem  to  be  none  the  less  firmly  rooted.  The 
men  possessed  of  these  notions  think  the  endow- 


264 

ment  to  be,  after  all,  nothing  different  from 
ordinary  life  insurance  ;  they  believe  that  it 
should  be  optional  s  that  it  is  selfish,  not  ger- 
mane   to    the  objects    of    the   Order — not   a 

CHARITY. 

The  wonderful  growth  of  life  insurance, 
especially  in  this  country 5 — notwithstanding  the 
failures  of  many  mismanaged  companies,  and 
the  distrust  cast  thereby  on  all  similar  associ- 
ations— present  the  most  eloquent  testimony  and 


5.  Policies  in  force  at  end  of  1884,  in  twenty  nine  regur 
lar  Life  Insurance  Companies,  reporting  to  the  Insurance 
Department  of  the  State  of  New  York,  amounted  to 
$1,870,728,059.00  in  750,567  policies.  Ten  of  lhes>e  com- 
panies hold  assets  amounting  to  over  two  hundred  and 
sixty  million  dollars  !  There  are  a  number  of  smaller  in- 
surance companies,  doing  a  local  business  only,  and  not 
reporting  to  the  New  York  Insurance  Department.  Then 
there  are,  besides,  the  numerous  assessment,  or  so-called 
co-operative  insurance  societies  and  fraternal  organizations, 
wherein  over  a  million  people  have  placed  their  dependence 
for  the  future  protection  of  their  widows  and  orphans.  The 
aggregate  amount  of  life  insurance  now  in  force  in  the 
United  States  of  America  is  fully  five  thousand  million 

DOLLARS. 

View  this  as  we  may — it  proves  one  thing  beyond  all 
doubt :  that  millions  of  people  recognize  life  insurance  as 
a  necessity. 


265 

the  best  proof  that  **  human  science  has  never 
devised  a  more  admirable  plan  for  securing  at 
the  same  time  the  benefit  of  association  and  the 
independence  of  the  individual."  There  may 
yet  be  and,  no  doubt,  still  are  some  objectionable 
features  in  the  systems,  some  defects  in  the 
methods  of  the  life  insurance  business  ;  but 
FRATERNAL  INSURANCE,  divcstcd  of  all  Specu- 
lative features,  of  all  opportunities  for  profit  or 
dividends,  either  to  the  insured,  while  living,  or 
to  the  managers;  simply  providing  a  certain 
protection  and  assistance  to  every  brother's 
widow  and  orphans — this  cannot  be  considered 
a  mere  business.  Life  insurance  is  recognized 
as  a  moral  and  social  duty  for  every  man  of 
family,  and  especially  for  the  man  of  small 
means.  What  right  has  a  man  to  become  the 
head  of  a  family,  knowing  it  would  be  in  utter 
want  the  moment  he  dies  ?  Only  the  man  void 
of  all  noble,  generous  feelings,  caring  for  nobody 
else — not  even  for  his  wife  and  children,  only  he 
can  refuse  to  deny  himself  five  cents  a  day,  to 
forego,  perhaps,  one  glass  of  beer  or  a  cigar— in 
order  to  secure  to  them  the  endowment  of  one 
thousand  dollars,  that  may  protect  them  from 
want  in  the  event  of  his  death.     There  is  a  class 


z66 

of  selfish  men,  who  say  :  "  Let  the  women  and 
children  earn  their  living  as  we  did.*'  These 
are  men  with  whom  duty  is  nothing,  greed 
everything;  but  such  men,  if  such  exist  among 
Israelites,  cannot  be  B*nai  B*rith.  Furthermore, 
to  protect  the  widows  and  orphans  of  our  de- 
parted brethren  is  one  of  the  principles  and 
objects  of  the  Order,  and  would  be  no  less  a 
duty  towards  the  widow  and  orphans  of  a  brother 
who  might  not  have  contributed — were  it  op- 
tional—as towards  those  brethren  who  had 
taxed  themselves  to  provide  an  endowment. 
Would  not  this  be  unjust  ?  Would  we  not 
thereby  rob  the  unselfish  brother  for  the  benefit  of 
the  selfish  one?  Then  it  certainly  is  proper  and 
germane  to  the  objects  of  the  Order  that  every 
member  be  required  to  contribute  to  the  Widow 
and  Orphan  Endowment  Fund.  And  he  should 
do  so  for  his  own  sake  as  well,  as  it  tends  to 
preserve  self-respect  and  freedom  from  anxiety. 
Let  the  wealthy  brother,  whose  family  is  amply 
provided  for  (and  such  are  but  few),  bequeath 
his  endowment  to  his  lodge  for  the  benefit  of  its 
poorer  members  (as  some  have  already  done). 

"  O,  what  a  precious  comfort  'tis  to  have  so  many, 
Like  brothers,  commanding  one  another's  fortunes. " 

—  Timon  of  Athens 


267 

Some  eminent,  but  too  idealistic  and  not  very 
practical,  members  of  the  Order  believe  to  stig- 
matize the  endowment  by  saying  :  "  It  is  no 
charity."  True,  it  is  no  charity  "that  renders 
good  for  evil,  blessings  for  curses  ;  "  it  is  some- 
thing far  superior  :  it  makes  charity  unne- 
cessary; it  does  "on  mutual  wants  build  mu- 
tual happiness."  Which  one  of  us  would  ever 
wish  his  wife  and  children  to  depend  on  charity? 
In  days  of  old  our  fathers  prayed  at  the  con- 
clusion of  each  meal  that  ours  may  never  eat 
the  bread  of  charity.  We,  as  B'nai  B'rith,  offer 
the  same  prayer  in  our  way  ;  to  do  good,  to 
work  and  watch  for  ourselves  and  our  fellow- 
men,  is  our  form  of  prayer. 

Therefore,  let  us  not  be  misled  by  glittering 

phrases  concerning  higher  objects  of  our  Order. 

There  are  but  few  higher  objects  than  that  of 

providing  mutually  for  our  widows  and  orphans. 

**  He  gives  but  little  who  gives  his  tears ; 
He  gives  his  best  who  aids  and  cheers ; 
He  does  well,  in  the  forest  wild, 
Who  slays  the  monster  and  saves  the  child ; 
Bui  he  does  best,  and  he  merits  more, 
Who  keeps  the  wolf  from  the  widow's  door  !' 

Let  US  do  this  honestly,  wisely;  and,  ''^sustained 

and  soothed  by  an  unfaltering  trusty  approach  our 

Endr 


CONTENTS, 


Part  I.— EARLY  HISTORY. 

PAGE 

Protecting  the  W.  and  O.  one  of  the  tenets  of  the  Order  3 
First  method  inefficient  and  unsatisfactory.  Report,  1866  4 
Question  of  benefit.  Resolution  of  D.G.L.  No  i,  1868  5 
First  District  Endowment  law ;  warning  voices  .  6,  7 

Friedlein's  Statistical  table  1 85 1- 1 868  .  .  7 

Appeals  against  Endowment  laws  .  .  .8 

Causes  leading  to  their  adoption ;  except  in   District 

No.  2    .  .  .  .  .      9,  10 

Separation  of  the  South  predicted         .  .  .11 

Opposition  in  Cincinnati,  O. ;  Local  Endowments  1 1 

G.N.A.*s  message  on  this  subject,  Jan.,  1872  .  .     12 

A  future  solution  of  this  problem    .  ,  .  12 

A  plan  with  graded  assessments  adopted  .  13,14 

Declared  unconstitutional,  agitation  continues  .  14,15 
Consolidation  of  Endowment  funds  suggested  .  .16 

A  general  Endowment  plan  recommended  .  .  17 

Antagonized  by  the  Jewish  Press  .  .  .18 

Delegates  to  Convention  instructed  against  it  .  19 

A  District  EndDwment  law  submitted  ;  defeated  20,  2i 
Resolution  adopted  by  the  Convention         .  .  22 

The  delegates  of  District  No.  2  determine  on  calling  a 

Special  Session  of  their  Grand  Lodge        .  .     23 

Adopt  an  Endowment  law  framed  on  the  plan  recom- 
mended for  a  General  Endowment  fund  .  23 


270 
Part  II.— 1874-1879. 

PAGE 

Our  Endowment  system  differs  from  others      ,  .     25 

Standard  rules  adopted  by  most  Benefit  Associations  25,  26 
Provisions  of  our  first  Endowment  laws  .  27-29 

Reserve  funds  not  thought  of  .  .  .30 

Difficulties  experienced  in  the  beginning  .  30,  31 

*' Legal  heirs'*  no  sufficient  designation       .  .    32,  33 

Endowments  confined  to  members  of  the  family  and 

charitable  institutions  .  .  .  .34 

Management  placed  in  a  Board  of  Trustees      .  .     34 

Beneficial  working  of  the  system      .  .  .  35 

Opposition  to  a  reserve  fund    .  .  .  36,  37 

Ascendance  of  Assessment  Life  Insurance  .    37,  38 

Belief  that  death  rate  would  not  increase  .  .     39 

Can  average  age  remain  the  same?  .  .     40,  41 

Average  age  no  true  basis  for  death-rate  .  .42 

Why  brethren  not  enlightened  on  this  subject        .  42 

Members  begin  to  doubt  the  safety  of  the  system  with- 
out reserve  fund  .  .  .  .     43,  44 
District  No.  i,  Endowment  Committee  recommends 

to  reduce  the  assessments  .  .  .      45-47 

District  No.  6,  efforts  to  create  a  Sinking  Fund  48 

Authorities  on  this  subject 
Advocates  of  Assessment  Insurance  on  same     . 
Delusive  arguments  of  the  opposition 
An  Endowment  Commission  appointed  (1877) 
Report  of  that  Commission  (1878)  District  No  6 
A  fine  preface  and  poor  recommendations 
The  District  Grand  Lodge  rejects  both 
District  No.  2.  The  difficulties  overcome j  its  law  sus 

tained;  it  gives  satisfaction  .  .  59-64 

Its  successful  working  .  .  .  .65-68 


48, 

49 

49  52 

49 

->3 

53> 

54 

55, 

56 

57 

58 

271 


Treatise  on    * 'Fraternal  Endowment"   in    Executive 

Committee  Report  1878.  •  •  .  69 

The  majority  continue  in  blissful  ignorance       .  ,     70 

Convention  of  Const.  Grand  Lodge,  1879  •     70-77 

Memorials  and  propositions  reviewed     .  .  71,72 

Report  of  Endowment  Committee         .  .  .72 

Graded  Rates  considered  (in  Note)  .  .      73-76 

The  convention  decides  to  let  each  district  work  out  its 

own  destiny        .  .  .  .  .77 

Struggles  that  ensuedj  their  results       .  .  77-80 


Part  III.— 1879-1885. 

District  No.  7,  Grand  Lodge  Meeting,  May  1879 

Its  President  recommends  the  right  plan 

Report  of  its  Secretary  who  saved  the  district 

Opportunity  lost  and  his  mistakes 

His  plan  adopted;  its  defects 

Its  unsatisfactory  working 

A  report  contrary  to  preconceived  notions  and  an 

reasoning  public  clamor 
Injurious  experimenting 
Plans  computed  on  increase  of  membership 
Question  of  benefit  submitted  to  the  lodges 
District  No.  i^  condition  of,  in  1879 
**The  ship  sailing  in  troubled  waters" 
Special  meeting,  July  1879 
Misunderstood  statistics 
Their  correct  interpretation 
Prof.  Neilson  on  friendly  societies 
A  harmful  peroration  .  .  , 

*Fraternal  Life  Insurance  is  the  realization  of  frater- 
nity," etc. 


81 
.  82 
82,83 
84,  85 

86 
.  87 
n- 

88 
89,  90 

91 
•      92 

93 
.      94 

95 
.      96 

97 
.      98 

99 


PAGE 
lOI,    I02 

106 
107 
108,    109  , 


Resolutions  ctfered  at  special  meeting    . 

Reports  of  Committee  on  Endowment,  1880 

Absurdities  exposed 

The  Committee's  actuary 

Minority  report  of  one,  January  1880    . 

A  uniform  rate,   within   certain  limitations,  preferable 

for  fraternal  societies           .             .  .        no  112 

Tflj^/^  comparing  different  methods              .  .         113 

Average  age  cannot  decrease      ,             ,  .               114 

Its  advance,  from  1874  to  1884        .             ,  •         115 

Minority  report  continued           .            .  ,               116 

Mistakes  in  calculating        .             .            .  .117 

Recommendations  of  the  minority  report  ,               118 

The  three  reports  laid  on  the  table               .  .         119 

The  storm  subsided.     The  delusion  continues  120 

A  special  committee  appointed  in  1882        .  .         121 

A  unanimous  report  presented,  in  Jan.  1883  ,               122 

It  defines  the  position  of  this  fund              .  .         123 

Some  statistics     .            .             .            .  .124-126 

Demagogical  spirit  stigmatized        ,.  ,.  .    .  .         127 

Consideration  deferred  to  next  session  .  .               128 

Copies  of  report  distributed.     Vain  hopes  .         129 

Prevailing  ignorance  about  Life  Insurance  .        130,131 

Advice  of  Bro.  Julius  Bien                .            ,  .         132 

President's  message,  Jan.  1884               .  .                133 

Committee  recommend  increasing   the  tax  one  cent, 

making  it  14  cents               .             .  ,                13^ 

Its  insufficiency  plainly  shown         .            .  ^35,  136 

The  Chairman  dissents               .            .  .                137 

The  first  victory  won              .             .             .  ,138 

Result  of  the  14  cents  tax,  to  i}^  per  cent  .      139.  140 

Would  15  cents  be  sufficient  ?          .            .  ,         141 

A  little  arithmetic            «            ,            .  .               142 


273 

PAGE 

Suggestion  to  **Make  it  optional''  .  143 

Why  it  should  not  prevail  .  .  ,  144 

Table  I. — Probable  results,  calculated  at  i5cts.  assess- 
ments, hraited  to  $18,00,  during  30  years         .         146 
**         Continued  from  31st  year,  at  $20.00.  148 

Table  II. — Probable  results,  calculated  at  $18  during 
30  years  .....         15^ 

*'        Continued  from  31st  year,  at  $20       .  152 

Explanatory  Remarks:  Probabilities    .  .         154 

Probability  as  to  membership      .  .  .  155 

Advance  of  age,  how  much  retarded  .  •         157 

Assumed  rates  of  Assessment     .  .  .  158 

Interest  on  the  Reserve         .  .  .  i59>  '^^ 

Explanation  of  Tables  continued  .  .     161,165 

Why  the  rate  of  $18  preferable       .  .  .166 

Can  other  Benefit  Associations  be  better?  .  167 

Their  rates  must  increase  in  future  ;  shown  from  their 

own  documents  .  .  .  .  .168 

The  natural  premium  plan  .  .  •       169,  170 

It  is  ill  adapted  to  Fraternal  Insurance        .  171,  172 

The  majority  of  our  brethren  do  not  ponder       .  173 

They    rely  on  the   ensumg  General   Convention   for 

Legislation  on  our  Endowment  .  .         174 

District  No.  2;  its  membership  and  funds       .  175 

Its  mode  of  collection  changed  from  20  assessments  at 

75  cents  to  $15  in  monthly  dues  .  .         176 

Difference  produced  by  the  rate  of  interest        .  177 

The  Trustees  recommend  an  increase  of  the  Annual 

Contribution  to  $18         .  .  .  .         179 

It  is  adopted  (May,  1884)  by  42  against  17  votes  180 

It  is  re-affirmed  with  still  larger  majority  (1885)     ,         182 

District  No.  3 — Struggles  to  amend  her  Endowment 

laws  yearly  defeated  .  .  .      182-184 


274 

^  PAGB 

Condition  oi  this  District      .  .  .  .185 

Rate  required  to  secure  stability  .  .  186 

It  were  better  to  reduce  the  benefit .  .  .         187 

District    No.  4;    Protest  against  the  "injudicious 

measure"  of  a  General  Endowment  system  189 

What  its  advocates  recommended     .  ,  .189 

The  Endowment  laised  to  $2000  without  providing  for 

a  Reserve  fund  (188 1)  .  .  .  190 

Report  of  her  Executive  Committee  member  (1881)         191 
Unwilling  to  pay  for  posterity     .  .  .  192 

Deficit  as  to  survivmg  members       .  .  .         192 

In  1884  the  President  proposes  to  make  the  assessment 
sufficient,  or  to  segregate  the  Endowment  from 
the  D.  G.  L.  or  combine  both  propositions  ;  refers 
to  same  agam  in  1885  .  .  .       193  195 

Grand  Lodge  No.  4,  however,  desires  no  change     195,  196 
Proposed  solution  of  the  difficulty  .  .  197 

District  No.  5j  its  Endowment  system j  sinking  fund 

under  control  of  the  Lodges     .  .  .198 

The  members  enthusiastic  about  their  system    .  200 

Presidents'  Reports  1878  and  1879  ,  .  .         201 

In  1880  the  General  Committee  recognizes  the  defects 

of  the  law       .....  202 

A  new  law  to  be  submitted  to  the  Lodges    .  .         203 

In  1 88 1  the  different  Reports  are  again  to  be  submitted 

to  the  Lodges  ....  204 

The  President  urges  immediate  action  .        .   204,  205 

The  representatives  again  refer  it  to  their  constituents    206 
By  what  representatives  are  swayed  .  .         207 

Difficulties  arose  in  drawing  on  the  Lodges        .  208 

Quarterly  Dues  of  $3.75  adopted      .  .  .        209 

Defective  form  of  registering  U.S.  Bonds  .  209 

A  new  Endowment  Law  submitted    .  .  210,  211 


275 

PAGE 

Rejected  by  a  tie  vote  of  the  Lodges      .  .  212 

The  Grand   Lodge  prescribes    a  form  of  registry  in 

accord  with  the  ruling  of  the  U.S.  Treasury   .         213 
Two  Lodges  refuse  to  comply     .  .  .  213 

Their  Charter  declared  forfeited       .  .  .214 

Appeal.  Our  Court  of  Appeal  affirms  the  action  of 
the  Grand  Lodge ;  the  Circuit  Court  decides  in 
favor  of  the  two  Lodges       .  .  .  215 

The  lesson  to  be  learned  from  these  troubles  .         216 

Centralization  of  the  Fund  recommended,  but  a  Mino- 
rity Report  opposing  this  and  reducing  the  contri- 
bution for  this  year  (1885)  adopted .  .  2 17 
Reasons  for  relieving  the  Lodges  from  the  management 

of  the  Endowment  Funds  .  .  .         218 

District  No.  6  :  its  Endowment  Planj  50  cents  assess- 
ments at  every  death  .  .  .  219 
Rapid  increase  of  the  death  rate  .  .  .  220 
An  increasing  Sinking  Fund  the  remedy  .  221 
A  new  Endowment  Law  enacted  in  1883  .  .  222 
A  remonstrance  and  an  appeal  .  .  223 
Weak  grounds  of  said  appeal  .  .  224,  225 
Appeal  sustained  on  a  technical  flaw  .  .  226 
Injury  done  by  the  appeal  and  its  decision  .  227-229 
The  President  considers  the  causes  of  the  decline  and 

the  remedies  .  .  •  .  230 

His  views  controverted  .  .  .  .231 

To  what  extent   optional    Endowment  miofht  be  per- 
mitted .....  ^3* 
Meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  called              .         233 
New  law  adopted  with  unlimited  assessments  at  50  cts. 

(virtually  the  same  as  before)    .  .  .233 

President's  Report  in  1885.     His  predictions     .  233 

He  hopes  that  the  C  G.  L.  may  solve  this  problem        234 


276 

PAGE 

Similar  views  of  the  Board  of  E.  F.  Trustees     .  234 

How  its  Endow.  Fund  can  be  placed  on  enduring  basis  235 
Charge  that  men  join  for  the  Endowment  and  that  the 

Endowment  keeps  men  from  joining    .  235,  236 

Our  aim  be  to  do  right  j  not  to  please  all  .  236 

District  No.  7.— Errors  of  its  Endowment  plan.     It 

is  recognized  as  unsafe  .  .  .  .237 

Condition  of  its  Reserve  Funds  ,  .  .  237 

Meeting  of  Executive  Committee  called  .        238 

Lodges  to  vote  for  or  against  a  Special  Convention  239 
Reasons  for  such  Special  Meeting    .  .  .        239 

Pakt  IV.— the  general  convention,  1885 
Message  of  the  President  Ex.  Committee  .      241,  242 

A  review  of  the  situation      .  .  .  243-245 

The  Endowment  feature  must  either  be  eliminated  or 

made  permanent,  etc.  ,  .  .  246 

Principles  tersely  stated  and  endorsed  .  .         246 

The  proposed  Endowment  law   ,  .  .  247 

Action  of  the  Committee  on  Endowment    .  .         248 

Report  of  that  Committee  .  .  ,       249-251 

Minority  Report  and  Discussion      .  .  252,  253 

The  Chairman's  Address  .  .  .      254    255 

Substitute,  offered  by  Bro.  S.  Wolf,  adopted  .         256 

The  proposed  Endowment  Law  recommended  .  257 

The  organic  law  simply  establishes  the  basis  .         258 

Executive  Committee's  Circular  in  promulgating  it  259 

The  aim  of  this  study;  the  use  of  history     .  .         260 

Delusions — facts  stronger  than  arguments  .      261,  262 

Distrusts— unreasonable  and  unjustifiable  .  .         263 

Prejudices  considered ;  growth  of  life  insurance  264 

Fraternal  InsuraTue  different  from  Insurance  business  265 
It  is  superior  to  charity — making  charity  unnecessary     267 


D^ 


^^n..ir-i^...-ijiD. 


ERRATA, 

Page  17,  13th  line,  10,000  in  number  should  be  "16.000." 

43,7th      '•     accommodation  should  be '' SLCcumul^tion.'* 

43,  19th    •'     200  members  should  be  **2ooo." 

48.19th    "     /<5'77  should  be  "1878."    . 

55,  quotation  ends  on  19th  line. 

62,  footnote  ''25"  omitted  at  end  of  text. 

96,  22d  line  should  be  omitted. 

135,  25ih  line  should  read  "to  two  per  cent.^' 

163.  from  in  third  line  of  foot-note  should  be  "  for." 

165,  4th  lin",  should  read    *'  ^.'c^d  fifteen  cents  for  each  death 

would ''  etc. 
176,  23d  line  should  read  ''first-class  sectirity  could  now  be 

made  yielding  seven  per  cent." 
180,  22 d  line,  Investments  begins  a  new  sentence. 
192,  22d  line,  6goo  should  be  "6990  " 
192,  24th  line,  /o  000  should  be  "10,667." 
219,  15th  line,  "  omit  commas  before  and  after  so  far.''' 
244.  6th  line,  %iooo  should  be  "$1500." 


numbers  as  far  as  published  may  be  taken  at 'once.     ' 
Subscriptions  should  be  sent  to 

The  American  Hebrew, 

498-500  Third  Avenue, 


276 

PAGE 

Similar  views  of  the  Board  of  E.  F.  Trustees     .  234 

How  its  Endow.  Fund  can  be  placed  on  enduring  basis  235 

Charge  that  men  join  for  the  Endowment  and  that  the 

Endowment  keens  men  frnm  ininin or  '^tr'    ^^-la 


Prejudices  considered  j  growth  of  life  insurance  264 

Fraternal  Insurance  different  from  Insurance  business  265 
It  is  superior  to  charity — making  charity  unnecessary     267 


Aruch  Completum 

BY 

Rev.  Dr.  ALEXANDER  KOHUT, 

BEING 

A  COMPLETE  LEX/CON 

TO    THE    WORDS    OCCURRING    IN    THE 
TALMUD,      TARGUMIM    &^    MIDRASCHIM, 


This  great  work  embodies  th€  results  of  the  best 
modern  philological  research. 

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two  dollars  with  a  reduction  to  ministers. 

Parts  may  be  taken  either  weekly,  monthly,  or  the 
numbers  as  far  as  published  may  be  taken  at  once. 
Subscriptions  should  be  sent  to 

The  American  Hebrew, 

498-500  Third  Avenue, 


liberal  in    Thought,  Vigorous  in  Expression, 

«i  Scholarly  in   Treatment, 


The  American  Hebrew, 

498-500  THIRD  AVE.,  NEW  YORK. 

Published  every  Friday.     $3.00  per  annum. 


Enlarged  to  Sixteen  Pages, 


Thb  American  Hebrew  is  the  acknowledged  representative  oi 
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S6  Pages,  8vo, 
Price,  in  paper  ,  .  Twenty-five  cents. 

"  Cloth     ..  .  .      Fifty 

Half  Morocco  .  .        One  dollar  and  a  half 


This  volume,  containing  nearly  all  of  the  Judaic 
poems  of  this  favorite  Jewish  author  has  met  with 
great  success  and  should  be  in  every  library.  It  has 
been  placed  at  a  low  price  to  secure  it  the  large  cir- 
culation it  merits  and  to  enable  it  to  be  used  freely  in 
Sunday  Schools  for  reading  and  recitation. 

Sent,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the  publishers, 

The  American  Hebrew, 

498-500  Third  Avenue,  New  York. 
Telephone,  243,  39th. 


MERCANTrLET, 
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First    :    Class    ;     Printing 

or    EVERY     DESCRIPTION, 

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NEW    YORK. 


Prices  Moderate 


GOOD  WORK. 


Pu0lioat»oi»  Optme 


The  American  Hebrew 


i 


Ha-Tapuach;    The  Apple. 

A  TREATISE  ON  THE   IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  SOUL 
BY  ARISTOTLE. 

Translated  from  the  Hebrew,  with  notes  and  Aphorisms, 

By  Rev.  Dr.  ISIDOR  KALISH, 
Price  50  cents. 


Conference   T^apers. 

Being  the  various  essays,  in  full,  read  at  the 
FIRST   CONFERENCE 


Jewish  Ministers'  Association 

of  New  York  and  adjacent  States, 
held  in  New  York,  on  January  igth  &*  20th,  i88s 


Price  Fifty  cents. 

Sent  on  receipt  of  price  by  the  Publishers, 
The  American  Hebrew, 

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Richard  Grant  White,  in  his  last  book,  entitled 
The  Fate  of  Mansfield  Humphreys^  said  : 

"  There  is  a  weekly  journal,  published  in  New  York, 
marked  in  some  of  its  articles  by  that  union  of  subtlety, 
strength  and  breadth  of  view  which  are  the  intellectual 
characteristics  of  the  race  to  which  it  is  addressed,  and 
which  is  called  The  American  Hebrew." 


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''  I  have  long  sought  a  fitting  opportunity  to  express 
my  admiration  for  the  comprehensive,  thorough  and 
intelligent  manner  in  which  The  American  Hebrew  is 
•dited.  Rev.  Dr.  Alex.  Kohut.  " 


Eminent  Israelites  of  the 

Jlineteenth  Century, 

—  BY  — 

HENRY  SAMUEL  MORAIS, 
Price  Two  dollars. 


This  volume,  which  has  attracted  wide  attention, 
contains  biographies  of  one  hundred  Jews  of  this 
century  whose  names  deserve  to  be  handed  down  to 
posterity,  accounts  of  many  of  whom  cannot  be  found 
elsewhere. 


ADDRESSES  ON 

Homely  &*  (Religious  Subjects, 

—  BY  — 

Dr.     H  .     B  A  A  R  , 

Superintendent  of  the  New  York  Hebrew  Orphan 
Asylum.     Handsomely  printed  and  bound,  2  volumes, 
Price,  $2.00  each. 


A  series  of  addresses  written  in  a  style  adapted  to 
the  young  mind,  delivered  by  Dr.  Baar  on  Sabbaths 
and  Holydays  to  the  children  of  the  Asylum. 

Sent  on  receipt  of  price  by 

The  American  Hebrew, 

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The  3\(^ew  Sducation. 

AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  BY 

HENRY  M,  LEIPZIGER,  A.  M. 

Principal  of  the  Hebrew  Technical  Institute  of  N.  Y. 
Handsomely  printed   on   heavy  paper   with    wide 
margins,  bound  in  paper.  Price  25  cents* 

The  Jews  of  JNew    York, 

—  BY  — 

Chief  Judge  CHAS.  P.  DALY, 

President  of  the  New  York  Geographical  Society,  etc. 

1  he  hjducation  of  Drphan    KjhildreHy 

—BY — 

Hon,  carl  SCHURZ, 

Price  2S  cents. 
These  two   admirable   ad(  resses   delivered    at  the 
laying  of  the  corner  stone  oi  the  new  Hebrew  Orphan 
Asylum,  are  bound  in  one  pamphlet,  and  are  interest- 
ing reading. 

The   Position  of    Woman 

IN   JEWISH  LAW  AND   CUSTOM, 

—  BY  — 

Rev.  Dr.  H.  PEREIRA  MENDES, 
Mmister  of  the   Portuguese   Synagogue,   New  York, 
Price  2^  cents. 
This  is  an  interesting  address  delivered  by  Rev,  Dr. 
Mendes  before  the  members  of  his  Congregation, 
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